Carleton Place bat maker takes a swing at torpedo trend
Torpedo bats are a hit from youth leagues to the majors
Ben Milinkovich figures he's heard the word 'torpedo' more often in the last few weeks than he has in the last 30 years of his life.
The Ottawa-area sales director has been scrambling to fill "nonstop" orders for a baseball bat with a trendy design.
Known as a torpedo bat, the design features an enlarged sweet spot — the part of the bat that makes contact with the ball. The bats have been surging in popularity since a record-setting New York Yankees game last month. The team set a franchise record with nine home runs, with several Yankees hitters wielding torpedoes.
Now Milinkovich and his Carleton Place employer Sam Bat hope their torpedo bats are a home run for the bottom line, as the threat of U.S. tariffs complicates the future.
Milinkovich said he's been fielding calls from pros to the parents of little leaguers in North America and overseas as far as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
"Everyone wants that magic wand," he said, admitting that he thought the design looked a little strange at first.
"But once you go and actually see what these guys are doing with it, it makes a whole lot of sense."
While he stopped short of describing it as a fad, Milinkovich thinks the torpedo bat's popularity has likely peaked.
"At the end of the day, it's still the craftsman, it's not the tool," he said, explaining that the same design won't necessarily work for every player. "If the player is at the plate and confident in the tool that's in their hands, then it'll work for them."
Milinkovich estimated 10 to 20 percent of the pros will stick with the torpedo, adding that he's already seeing some players return to a more traditional design.
'Not exactly new'
Production manager Scott Smith said he's made hundreds of thousands of bats over the years, and the torpedo design is "not exactly new."
"It's been around for a long time," Smith said. "Things come in and out of fashion like, you know, bell bottom jeans."
President and co-owner Arlene Anderson said Sam Bat has been making maple baseball bats for major leaguers since 1997. The company's bats have been in the hands of legendary hitters like Barry Bonds and Miguel Cabrera.
Anderson explained that her company always works with players to find the right bat, even making mid-season adjustments according to changes in a player's bodyweight. When players started requesting torpedo bats, Anderson said Sam Bat was happy to oblige.
"I think it's something that captures the imagination. [The Yankees] obviously had a fantastic game and everyone wants to know if there's a special elixir, a special sauce that will make them better," she said.
"Anything that draws in customers to be thinking about wood bats is a good thing for us."
Bracing for tariff impacts
But while the torpedo craze has been a boon for Sam Bat's brand, Anderson said the threat of U.S. tariffs is creating "a great deal of stress."
The company's products are CUSMA-compliant, Anderson said, so it has thus far been exempt from tariffs on bats shipped south of the border. But the uncertainty and a constantly shifting landscape have the company taking stock of its inventory and suppliers to minimize any potential impacts.
"All small business is up against it right now," Anderson said. "We have to consider each stream and how it impacts our ultimate finished product."
In the meantime, Sam Bat and its nine employees are doing their best to cover their bases and meet demand. For Milinkovich that means answering hundreds of emails and spending hours in MLB dugouts performing demos of the torpedo.
"It's tapered off a little bit," he said. "But it's still going."
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With files from Giacomo Panico