12 hours Ago
It’s no secret that Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson has struggled mightily with his bat this season. So it makes sense that he’s changed his bat. He does that a lot.
The “bat junkie,” as Pederson was once called by a former manager, is testing out the much-ballyhooed torpedo bat. Trying out different bats was something that new Rangers hitting coach Bret Boone did often during his career. “I change bats a lot, I like bats,” said Pederson, according to MLB.
com . “Boonie was talking about when he played, he was getting like six delivered every series. And by the end of the season, he’d have like 200 bats.
He knew the ounces and the grains. We just had a detailed talk about bats. It sounds crazy, but, I don’t know, it was something really relatable to me and definitely helped having a common ground when building a relationship.
” Just How Good Has Joc Pederson Been Since the Change in Bat? The relationship is off to solid start, with Pederson going 2-for-2 in the 6-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday. He was also 2-for-3 in Tuesday’s 6-1 win over the Red Sox. Pederson doubled in each game.
The four hits have an average exit velocity of 108.9 mph. Pederson’s batting average is up 39 points in that span, though it still sits at a paltry .
133. The torpedo bat is designed with more wood concentrated in the middle of the barrel or its sweet spot. Pederson is a fan, so far.
“Again, I’ve tried just about everything,” Pederson said, according to MLB.com. “Like I said, baseball is an interesting game.
Sometimes the littlest things make the biggest defense difference and free you up and give you the mental freedom to be able to go out there and compete with confidence.” Switching from bat to bat has never been an issue for Pederson. While many players stick to their routines, his willingness to tinker and learn more about bats caught the eye of Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo.
Pederson played for the D-backs in 2024. “He loves to pick up bats and get a feel and see how it responds in his hands,” Lovullo said last season, according to MLB.com .
“And he’ll spend half an hour at a time in the bat room and I see him in there often. He is an absolute bat junkie, and he wants to talk about baseball bats as much as anybody I've ever been around.” Pederson has been a constant presence in the middle of manager Bruce Bochy’s lineup despite his struggles.
“I think I’ve been hitting some balls hard, and they’ve been making some plays,” Pederson said, according to MLB.com. “It’s definitely a relief [to get some hits] and nice to contribute to a win [on Wednesday].
I haven’t done that much this year, so that part’s been really frustrating.” The Rangers (18-19) finish off the three-game series with Boston on Thursday afternoon..
