Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred recently addressed the advent and rising popularity of the so-called "torpedo bat," a bowling-pin shaped bat the popularity of which has coincided with a very modest spike in the league home-run rate relative to last season.

Torpedo bats are all the rage this season, and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says he believes all that chatter is good for the game.

By now, you’ve probably heard about baseball’s greatest innovation since the curveball: MLB’s new “torpedo” bat, the reconfigured bat that moves the barrel — or the sweet spot — closer to the handle, seemingly turning even the most meager of hitters into home run machines.