Remember Anthony Volpe's hot start? Remember torpedo bats? As opening day passed and April dragged on, both have pretty much disappeared from the baseball season discourse.

Volpe hit four home runs in the New York Yankees first five games as his magical torpedo bat took the league by storm. That last home run came on April 2nd. Since then it's been three weeks and 20 games, and Volpe has not sent another ball out of the park.

The way things have gone for Volpe since then, you'd think MLB really did ban the bat as some people were actually suggesting just a few short weeks ago. The debate was as useless as talking heads suggesting the NFL ban two-deep coverage six months earlier.

Volpedo mania seems as silly and far off now as Elilio Bonafacio's start with the Florida Marlins in 2009. Leading off and playing third base for the Marlins, the then 23-year old started the season 14 of 24 with a double, triple and home run and five RBI as Florida started the season 4-0.

He turned 24 on April 23rd and by the time his birthday month was over his batting average had already fallen to .259. By the end of the season his slash line was .252/.303/.308 and the Marlins missed the playoffs.

Not to say the Yankees will experience the same outcome, but Anthony Volpe's hot start is a reminder that you can't get too high or too low so close to opening day.

Take the Phillies for example. They just dropped three games to the New York Mets. It was enough for NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Michael Barkann to ask John Kruk if it was time to panic. Kruk was completely dismissive of such concerns with about 85% of the season remaining.

And who could forget the rant WFAN's Sal Licata went on last week about Juan Soto. The Mets have gone 7-0 since then, and while Soto still isn't lighting the world on fire at the plate, he made one of the biggest plays of the game with his arm during the team's latest win.

The good news for Soto—besides the 15-years remaining on his contract—is that there's plenty of time to turn his season around at the plate.

Maybe he could try a torpedo bat.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Anthony Volpe and His Torpedo Bat Haven’t Hit a Home Run in Three Weeks.

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