Struggling SF Giants hitter has seen offense surge after ditching torpedo bat

SF Giants catcher Patrick Bailey provides most of his value as a player behind the plate, but he has started to swing the bat better as of late. This surge may be thanks in part to him abandoning his torpedo bat.

A user on Reddit noted that since Bailey has made the change, he has started to hit the ball better. It seems Bailey switched things up in the series against the Atlanta Braves and had some solid results, hitting a few doubles and driving in several runs.

SF Giants catcher Patrick Bailey hitting well after abandoning torpedo bat

In Bailey's last 15 games he is slashing .269/.286/.385 with one home run and seven runs batted in. Of course, that one homer was as memorable as it gets, coming on a walk-off inside the park home run which it seems like he did while still using a torpedo bat.

On the season, Bailey is slashing .209/.267/.303 with two home runs and 28 runs batted in. Those numbers are not all that pretty, but they are an improvement over where he was just a couple weeks ago.

Torpedo bats were the talk of MLB early this season after several New York Yankees players had success with them. The buzz has died down a little, but they are still an interesting new addition to the game.

So far this season, it seems like the only two Giants to use the torpedo bats have been Bailey and infielder Tyler Fitzgerald. Both players have struggled mightily and Fitzgerald currently finds himself in Triple-A so perhaps this is proof that the wizard matters more than the wand.

Bailey has been searching for answers all year at the plate. In each of his first two seasons with the Giants, he had a steep drop off in offensive production in the second half. Perhaps this season he can reverse that trend by having a bad first half but finding things in the second half.

Obviously, what Bailey does defensively as a catcher makes him a valuable player. That is always going to be his strength. But if he can just be a league-average hitter then his value would go up immensely.

Abandoning the torpedo bat seems to have helped him find something at the plate. The Giants will be hoping he can build off that the rest of this season because they need all the help on offense they can get.

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