Carleton Place bat maker takes a swing at torpedo trend

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.

Production manager Scott Smith said he's made hundreds of thousands of bats over the years,