The Bronx bombers now have torpedoes in their armory.
The New York Yankees officially launched the “Torpedo Bat” era over the weekend. There are multiple players using baseball bats that have been modified by the team’s historic offensive onslaught in the opening series of the 2025 season.
Bat wood moves from the barrel towards the batter’s hand, creating a custom sweet spot where contact is most frequently made. Reconstruction gives bats the shape of torpedoes or bowling pins.
Because the Yankees attacked a bomb with them.
Nine of MLB’s records with 15 home runs hits in the first three games were used by five players using torpedo bats.
“I think the advantage is that you are likely to have reasonable contact,” Oregon physics teacher Dave Savage told NBC Local. “So… you’ve increased your chances and you can get closer to the dead center of that sweet spot, the biggest, the biggest exchange of momentum, that’s your biggest.”
It was not the first time a torpedo bat was used in major leagues, but the Yankees’ offensive explosion helped put the torpedo on baseball radar.
Some social media users, baseball purists, and at least one conflicting player, have returned fire by saying bats should be banned.
However, bats are legal under MLB rules. And more teams are about to add torpedo bats to their arsenal.
What is a torpedo bat?
Mike Stove/Getty ImagesMike Stove/Getty Images
A torpedo bat belonging to Jazz Chischorm Jr. of the New York Yankees. (Photo: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
The Torpedo Bat is a custom-made baseball bat with a modified barrel adjusted to maximize the batter’s contact tendency.
The wood moves closer to the hand from the edge of the barrel, making the bat widest where the batter most frequently comes into contact with the ball.
Reshaping and rearrangement of sweet spots gives bats the torpedo look.
Who invented the torpedo bat?
No, it wasn’t an assistant to Yankees travel director George Costanza.
Much of the recent credits on the implementation of the torpedo bat went to Aaron Lean Hart, a former Yankees front office staffer who is now the Miami Marlins field coordinator.
Leanhardt, a former physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the idea developed in 2022 while working with the Yankees’ minor league hit division.
Yes, the Yankees have Renny (the man), a literal genius MIT physicist on their pay. He invented the “torpedo” barrel. It brings more wood and mass to where you most often come into contact as a batter. The idea is to increase the number of “barrels” and reduce mistakes. pic.twitter.com/csc1wkam9g
– Kevin Smith (@kjs_4) March 29, 2025
In Physics at MIT, who previously coached baseball at the Atlantic League and Montana Community College, according to Leanhardt Athletic, 48, who holds a bachelor’s and doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. He became a major league analyst for the Yankees in 2024, and players within the organization quickly began using torpedo bats in regular season games.
“Really, it’s about making bats as heavy and fat as possible in an area where you’re trying to do damage in baseball,” he told Athletic.
Yes Network Play-by-Play announcer Michael Kay said on Saturday’s broadcast he did a study on shortstop Anthony Volpe, showing that the Yankees’ analytics department frequently hit the ball with bat labels rather than barrels.
So, using Leanhardt’s design, Volpe’s bat sweet spots have been moved from the barrel to the label.
Michael Kay explains that the Yankees have created a new bat.
It seems to be related today… pic.twitter.com/cpldzigdrt
– Awful Announcement (@awfulannouncing) March 29, 2025
Who will turn the torpedo into a bat?
According to ESPN, the Yankees have requested sample torpedo style models from some of MLB’s 41 approved bat makers. The model number for the spec bat started with the bowling pin “BP”. This is a more accurate comp of the new shape of the bat.
“The torpedo sounds kind of cool,” Leanhardt told ESPN.
Louisville Slugger said over the past 18 months, four teams have requested torpedo-style bats from the company.
“The team analyzes everyone in the bat by all players and then charts the bat portion.
Each player is in contact with the ball, the company said Monday in a statement. “Based on the majority of positions of player contact in the barrel, teams are asking for the weight of the barrel and sweet spot to accommodate each batter.”
What are the BAT rules for MLB?
Torpedo bats do not violate the MLB rules below 3.02. “The bat must be a smooth, round stick that is no more than 2.61 inches in diameter and no more than 42 inches in length at the thickest part.
Additionally, there is a cup indentation of 1 1/4 inch deep, 2 inch wide and at least 1 inch diameter, with the experimental model being said to have to be approved by MLB.
When was the torpedo bat first used?
Giancarlo Stanton may be remembered as the player who officially launched MLB’s first torpedo.
Several players, including Volpe, tried out the torpedo bats from last season. However, it was Stanton who used one to hit seven home runs in 14 postseason games during the Yankees’ run to the 2024 World Series per ESPN.
Following its success, Yankees members were able to use the torpedo bat model during spring training.
Five members of the Yankees lineup adopted torpedo bats in the 2025 opening series, shattering a total of nine home runs: Jazz Chischorm Jr. (3), Volpe (2), Austin Wells (2), Paul Goldschmidt and Cordy Bellinger (1), who said he experimented with bats that had been fished during batting practice last year.
Their Yankee teammate, American League MVP Aaron Judge, hit four home runs in the first three games of the season, but he did so with the traditional bat.
Which teams use torpedo bats?
The Yankees are not the only team using torpedo bats.
Ryan Jeffers of the Minnesota Twins and junior Kaminero and Yandi Diaz of the Rays used them on a per ESPN basis over the spring training and opening weekend of the regular season. Davis Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays uses one. MLB.com reported that members of the Baltimore Orioles experimented with them. So did the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs in spring training, according to the New York Times.
And more torpedoes are on the collision course with the league.
There have been a lot of requests for torpedo bats, says Mc Huntsberry of Marc Sport, a big toau podie bat supplier. There’s no surprises!
– John Heyman (@jonheyman) March 31, 2025
However, some pitchers may be seeing the use of torpedo bats just as they have a higher pitching mound.
“I think that’s awful,” the Brewers approached the New York Post as the team watched the Yankees surrendered 15 home runs. “You see what the data is saying. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I think it’s something that’s used in slow pitch softballs.
“It’s a genius: put all the Mass in one place. It could be Bush (the league). It may not be. But it’s the Yankees, so they slide it.”
Two new rule changes have been implemented in the 2025 MLB season to improve fairness and speed up the game.
