Torpedo bats have taken the MLB by storm. While the future of the torpedo bats isn't set in stone – as some want the bats banned – RotoWire.com used odds from DraftKings Sportsbook to see if $10 bets on both 'Home Runs' and 'Total Bases' would end up being a profitable strategy. Based on DraftKings odds (pregame odds as-of Tuesday, April 2), if a bettor placed a $10 wager on the players using the torpedo bat, they would have only won four bets total - losing $69 overall.
Torpedo Bat Bet Payout
Total Spent | Total Payout | Profit |
$260.00 | $191.00 | -$69.00 |
Overall, betting on players that are using the newest trend in baseball would not have been the wisest strategy (on Wednesday, at least). That's because the average bettor in this situation would have lost $69, making $191 compared with $260 in expenditures.
(April 2) Torpedo Bat Home Run Bets
Player | Odds | $10 Bet Payout |
+1000 | $110.00 | |
+750 | $85.00 | |
+1300 | $140.00 | |
+475 | $57.50 | |
+900 | $100.00 | |
+390 | $49.00 | |
+1000 | $110.00 | |
+750 | $85.00 | |
+950 | $105.00 | |
+650 | $75.00 | |
+550 | $65.00 | |
+1100 | $120.00 | |
+650 | $75.00 |
As you can see in the chart above, not all bets were created equally, with one player out of the mix (Anthony Volpe of the New York Yankees) cashing in on the infielder's +1000 home run odds on Wednesday, while the rest of the torpedo bat gang failed to go yard in their respective regular season outings.
Luckily for anyone that cashed in on Volpe's power, an investment of $10 would pay off handsomely, resulting in a payout of $110, though the other 12 players that RotoWire.com surveyed failed to cash in on their respective home run odds.
Looking at the numbers, Volpe would not be the guy that you'd expect to be the only one of the group in question to go long, as the third year infielder for the Yankees has 37 home runs in 324 MLB games, averaging out to one long ball per 8.8 games played.
Of the 13 players surveyed, that ratio ranked as the third longest, ahead of Jose Trevino (12.625) and Nico Hoerner (19.1), while ranking well behind players like Cody Bellinger, who has bashed 197 long balls in 1,010 MLB games, averaging out to one home run per every 5.1 games played.
(April 2) Torpedo Bat Total Bases Bets
Player | Odds | $10 Bet Payout |
+155 | $25.50 | |
+150 | $25.00 | |
+130 | $23.00 | |
+140 | $24.00 | |
+130 | $23.00 | |
-120 | $18.33 | |
+160 | $26.00 | |
+210 | $31.00 | |
+165 | $26.50 | |
+180 | $28.00 | |
+125 | $22.50 | |
+450 | $55.00 | |
+205 | $30.50 |
For those that placed similar $10 bets, this time on a torpedo bat user to collect a certain number of total bases, users would have gotten a payout of $81 on $130 in bets, leaving them with a $49 deficit, with the only players that covered the total being Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds, as well as Volpe and his 'Bronx Bombers' teammate, Austin Wells.
Those three had odds ranging from +140 (De La Cruz) to +210 (Wells), which ultimately would not have been nearly enough to eat away at the deficit that would come from having 10 of the 13 players using the MLB's newest fad of a baseball bat fail to clear their pregame total bases number on Wednesday.
To add insult to injury for Yankees fans, not only did the majority of New York's handful of torpedo bat users fail to go yard, New York also managed to lose at home on Wednesday night to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a second straight night, falling 4-3 to the NL West stalwarts from the Valley.
