Roy Hobbs, the fabled swinger of his beloved “Wonderboy,” might disagree. But there really is no such thing as a “magic bat.” When MLB hitters select their sticks, they must make certain compromises.

With 15 home runs in their first three games, the New York Yankees are flexing their muscles. Could part of their success be due to a new bat design?

By now, you’ve probably heard about baseball’s greatest innovation since the curveball: MLB’s new “torpedo” bat, the reconfigured bat that moves the barrel — or the sweet spot — closer to the handle, seemingly turning even the most meager of hitters into home run machines.

Check out some of the home runs hit this season by players using torpedo bats.

On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including the online hysteria surrounding the ‘torpedo bats‘ in MLB.

It has been the talk of baseball since Saturday, March 29th, after the New York Yankees hit 9 home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers and drove in 20: the Torpedo Bat.

A bat with a wider barrel sometimes referred to as a torpedo bat sits next to a normal bat during the first inning of MLB baseball game against the Washington Nationals, in Toronto, Monday, March 31,

On the off-chance anyone is still in the dark, the torpedo bat is potentially the most exciting innovation to hit MLB in a long time. A bat model that is thickest where the hitter is most likely to make contact?

Torpedo Bats on cards and Jackson Merrill has 8 different autograph variations in the latest edition of Above the Mantel