The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers 20-9 Saturday and hit a franchise-record nine home runs in the rout.
During the game, the YES broadcast noted that some Yankees players were using torpedo bats.
So, what are they?
The torpedo bats have the barrel of the bat in a different location. Instead of being at the end of the bat, the barrel is closer to the handle, which gives the bat a bowling pin shape. Some players make contact with the ball more on the label instead of the traditional barrel of the bat. The torpedo bats move the barrel to the label, so when they make contact they barrel up the baseball more.
The uniquely shaped bats dominated conversation among players and fans this weekend after the Yankees’ offensive eruption.
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“I think it’s terrible,” Brewers relief ace Trevor Megill told the New York Post. “We’ll see what the data says. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I feel like it’s something used in slo-pitch softball. It’s genius: Put the mass all in one spot. It might be bush [league]. It might not be. But it’s the Yankees, so they’ll let it slide.”
Kevin Smith, who spent time with the Yankees last season, took to X to give credit to Aaron Leanhardt for the innovative bat.
“Yes, the Yankees have a literal genius MIT Physicist, Lenny (who is the man), on payroll. He invented the ‘torpedo’ barrel. It brings more wood – and mass – to where you most often make contact as a hitter. The idea is to increase the number of ‘barrels’ and decrease misses,” Smith wrote.
Leanhardt, 48, has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in physics from MIT and was a physics professor at Michigan from 2007-2014.
Leanhardt joined the Yankees in 2018 after coaching in the Atlantic League and Montana community college in 2017.
“It’s just about making the bat as heavy and as fat as possible in the area where you’re trying to do damage on the baseball,” Leanhardt said about the torpedo bat via The Athletic.
“There were definitely some major league players that swung it in the big leagues in 2023,” Leanhardt told reporters Monday. “As well as some minor league players who swung it in some real baseball games in 2023, and it just kind of built up throughout 2024 into what it is today.”
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Leanhardt is now a member of the Miami Marlins as a field coordinator after he left the Yankees after six years as a major league analyst. While he is no longer with the team, four of the Yankees’ regular starters use the torpedo bat.
First baseman Paul Goldschmidt, center fielder Cody Bellinger, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and shortstop Anthony Volpe all use the torpedo bat. Giancarlo Stanton does not.
Yankees outfielder Jasson Domínguez told reporters that Stanton was using a torpedo bat last season when he mashed seven home runs in 14 postseason games during the Yankees’ run to the World Series.
However, the Yankees are not the only team that uses the bats. The MLB social media account posted a brief explainer to X about the torpedo bat and highlighted four players from four teams who use them.
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The four players pictured that use the bat are New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Yandy Díaz, Anthony Volpe and Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers. Rays third baseman Junior Caminero and Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm have used them.
Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz decided to try the torpedo bat in the Reds’ game on Monday against the Texas Rangers after watching the Yankees’ offensive onslaught.
De La Cruz went 4-5 with two home runs, a double and seven RBIs in the Reds’ 14-3 win over the Rangers.
“I just wanted to know if it felt good,” De La Cruz said via The Athletic, “and it definitely does.”
The bats are legal.
MLB Rule 3.02 states, “The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.”
The rule also says “experimental” bats can’t be used “until the manufacturer has secured approval from Major League Baseball of his design and methods of manufacture.”
Leanhardt said he would “guarantee” he is on a first-name basis with MLB officials who oversee bat regulation.
While teams and players are sure to want to get their hands on the torpedo bat, some players are content with what they’ve been using.
When Yankees captain and two-time AL MVP winner Aaron Judge was asked why he hadn’t tried the new torpedo bat, he replied, “What I’ve done the past couple of seasons speaks for itself.”
Reds manager Terry Francona said maybe it wasn’t the bats that led to the Yankees’ record nine home runs.
“I don’t have a big opinion. I think if you go back and look at where some of these pitches were (thrown against the Yankees), it might not be the bat,” Francona told The Athletic.
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