MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

Im glad this landed here so I can ask:

Physics nerds, would a “larger contact area” give the baseball more velocity?

I’ve been speculating that moving the mass lower effectively increases bat speed because its a “shorter bat”, but all of the commentary is acting like the larger barrel is “more power”.

I’d expect larger barrel increases odds of contact, not increased power transfer?

(But I also think of a car with bike diameter wheels and that could obviously change the power transfer)

Some are saying it’s about the center of mass being closer to the point of contact

I’m not an expert but I think it has more to too with reducing vibrations along the bat and increasing the efficiency of energy transfer

Again not an expert

You are transferring rotational energy to the ball. Rotational energy is proportional to square of angular velocity. It is only linearly proportional to moment of inertia. So bat speed is more important than weight, all things considered.

From what I can tell this is more about making it easier to make solid contact. Even if it lowers the moment of inertia, it’s more important that the ball goes on a decent trajectory rather than e.g. directly into the ground. A bigger radius means the ball will be exit closer to the plane of the swing.