The Yankees clubbed 15 homers over the weekend, tying the MLB record for a season-opening series. But it was the bats that hit those dingers that stole the show.
MLB says the “torpedo” bats, which have a rounder barrel and have moved more of the weight toward the label, are legal.
YES Network play-by-play announcer Michael Kay appeared to be the first member of the media to discuss them, when he explained the new shape during the Bombers’ nine-homer barrage against the Brewers on Saturday. The bats have been in use since last season, Yankees players told MLB.com. Several companies have manufactured bats with the “torpedo” design, including Louisville Slugger and Marucci.
One quote that was being scrutinized Sunday: Giancarlo Stanton saying his double elbow injury was caused by “bat adjustments.” Jasson Domínguez told the official team site that Stanton had used a “torpedo” bat, and ESPN confirmed Stanton used the “torpedo” bats when he stroked seven homers in last year’s playoffs.
One former Yankee told The Athletic that the MIT-trained physicist who developed the bats, Aaron Leanhardt, had the bats available in spring training as far back as 2022. Leanhardt formerly worked as an analyst with the Yankees and is now a coach with the Marlins.
“Credit to any of the players who were willing to listen to me, because it’s crazy,” Leanhardt told ESPN in a story published Monday. “Listening to me describe it is sometimes even crazier. It’s a long-running project, and I’m happy for the guys that bought into it.”
Not all the Yankees are using it—including the biggest slugger of them all
When Kay broke the news of the new bat design Saturday, his broadcast partner, Paul O’Neill, was baffled. “That’d be a weird way to hit,” O’Neill said. “Going up there expecting to get jammed and putting the meat of the bat towards the label?”
It seems Aaron Judge agrees. Judge hit four homers over the weekend, and he did so with his old bat; apparently, he hasn’t even swung a “torpedo” bat.
“The past couple of seasons kind of speak for itself,” Judge said after hitting three homers on Saturday. “Why try to change something?” Judge has won two of the last three AL MVPs and hit a whopping 157 homers in that three-year period.
It’s not just the Yankees, and pitchers aren’t offended
It appears likely that a “torpedo” bat will be swung by at least one player on every single team before the week is out. Players on the Orioles, Cubs, Yankees, Twins, Blue Jays, Rays, Red Sox, and Braves, at a minimum, were using them over the weekend, according to reporters who cover those teams.
“Some like it, some don’t,” a Twins hitting coach told the New York Daily News. “Bat companies have been pushing them this offseason.” The Braves ordered some of the bats just this weekend, according to ESPN.
“I think that’s not something that’s unique to the Yankees,” Orioles hitting coach Cody Asche told The Baltimore Banner. “I think a lot of teams are doing that around the league.” Asche said that catcher Adley Rutschman—who is hitting the cover off the ball through four games after a slight down year last year—is using a “torpedo” bat.
Nestor Cortes gave up five of the nine homers Saturday, but said he wasn’t blindsided or offended by the more square-shaped bats. (Cortes was on the Yankees the last four years before being traded to Milwaukee in the offseason.) “That’s nothing new to me,” he said. “I don’t think it matters to me. I get the science and technology behind it. I don’t know; it doesn’t really bother me.” His manager, Pat Murphy blamed his pitchers and credited New York’s hitters: “My old ass will tell you this for sure: It ain’t the wand, it’s the magician.”
After all, most of the advancements in baseball science in recent years have been in pitching, whether in mechanics or simply applying substances to the ball. Huge increases in spin rate and velocity have made it harder than ever to hit, and offensive numbers have plunged as a result. Commissioner Rob Manfred’s sweeping rules changes—including banning shifts and putting pitchers on a clock—were largely introduced to encourage more hitting.
The Yankees’ weekend barrage is still a small sample size, coming against a familiar starter and perhaps questionable pitching otherwise. But there is a chance that baseball’s pendulum is finally swinging the other way after years of pitchers having the upper hand.
That’s how Brewers star Christian Yelich sees it.
“If it is a technological advancement on the hitting side, it’d be cool because we’ve been kind of playing catch-up with the pitching side,” Yelich told the Daily News. “If you can use technology to make yourself perform better, as long as it’s within the rules, why not?”
