Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is unlikely to be thrilled when the New York Yankees face the Boston Red Sox for the first time this summer. Following the Yankees’ dominant 12-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, Portnoy unleashed a fiery two-minute rant on X (formerly Twitter), criticizing the team’s use of the controversial ‘Torpedo’ bats.
Several Yankees players, including shortstop Anthony Volpe and center fielder Cody Bellinger, have been using these bats, which contain more wood. The impact has been undeniable—New York crushed 15 home runs during their three-game sweep of the Brewers. Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered three times using a Torpedo bat, while Volpe and catcher Austin Wells each launched two.
Portnoy didn’t hold back in his criticism: “If you get jammed and it’s a home run, that doesn’t mean you suddenly got better; that’s just some geek from MIT, some physicist ruining 100 or 200 years of baseball,” he said. He warned that if MLB fails to ban the bat, teams will adopt it league-wide, turning every game into a slugfest: “Every game is gonna be 100-98, and there’s gonna be 3,000 home runs.
the dude who invented the torpedo bat is about to become very wealthy. pic.twitter.com/fkyqUWJra9
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) March 30, 2025
Major League Baseball has confirmed that the Torpedo bats are within league regulations, which mandate that bats cannot exceed 2.61 inches in diameter or 42 inches in length.
Portnoy’s fiery “emergency press conference” sparked mixed reactions from fans, with his clip amassing nearly three million views at the time of publication. Some agreed with his frustration, while others pushed back. “There’s an argument to ban it, but let’s not cry about cheating,” one user commented. “Fair game until it’s not.” Another fan countered, “If you knew anything about baseball, you’d know that multiple teams have experimented with this for years. There are probably 50 players across the league using similar bats.”
Interestingly, even some Yankees fans believe Major League Baseball should investigate the Torpedo bats. “With today’s technology, it should be easy to determine whether it’s the player or the bat making the difference,” one fan suggested.
Meanwhile, another X user tried to appeal to Portnoy’s loyalty to the New England Patriots. “Adapt and overcome,” they wrote. “They’re following the rules to the letter—just like Belichick has done in the NFL.”
Others dismissed Portnoy’s complaints altogether. “That kind of whining usually comes from Mets fans,” a Yankees supporter quipped. “Stick to pizza reviews.”
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