New York Yankees' usage of new 'torpedo' bats, explained

Of course, after the New York Yankees set a franchise record with nine home runs in a single game against the Milwaukee Brewers, basement-dwelling Red Sox fans put on their tin foil hats and sleuthed their way across social media in order to drum up conversation about "cheating."

Nice try, losers, but not even close! The Yankees are not the only team to use the new "torpedo" bat design, which is well within the league's regulations. In fact, Chicago Cubs slugger Nico Hoerner has used one in 2025. Orioles hitting coach Cody Asche says a few of his players have "dabbled" too. There are more, and there will be more.

The Yankees led MLB in home runs (237) in 2024 without widespread usage of these bats (some players "experimented" with them last season). In 2022, they led MLB in homers without the bat existing. While a nine-homer day seems objectively wild, it's just a testament to the amount of power on this roster. The first six hitters in the team's lineup are 20-plus-homer bats — Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm, Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe.

Plus, in regard to the torpedo design, it was spearheaded by an MIT physicist names Aaron Leanhardt, who is now a Marlins assistant coach, after spending a few years in the Yankees organization in the minor league hitting department. That's where he began putting the experiment to the test, and the bats were introduced fairly quietly last season. The theory behind the design is rooted in basic logic — use as much lumber as legally permissible toward the "sweet spot" of the bat.

This blurb from Chris Kirschner of The Athletic's informative Saturday article on the topic clarifies everything that fans might've previously questioned:

"A Major League Baseball spokesman toldThe Athletic that the bats don’t break any rules. MLB Rule 3.02 states that a 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.' It also says that 'experimental' bats can’t be used 'until the manufacturer has secured approval from Major League Baseball of his design and methods of manufacture.'"

New MLB 'torpedo' bats have spurred misinformation due to Yankees' usage

Aaron Judge, who hit three home runs on Saturday, does not use it, however, responding in a fairly savage manner when asked about the subject. "What I did the past couple of seasons speaks for itself. Why try to change something if you have something that’s working?"

But not everybody is Aaron Judge, who won MVP awards in 2022 and 2024. Most other players need the best competitive advantage possible, especially with pitching never being better in the history of the game. Nonetheless, it's a non-story, beyond the new information being introduced. Hitting is the hardest task in professional sports and there are plenty of folks behind the scenes attempting to innovate in order to level the playing field.

It could just be ... the Yankees are smarter for getting ahead of this with the amount of players they have using the torpedo bats? Ever think of that? We know Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm and Cody Bellinger have used them, and more could follow suit.

The easiest thing to do is jump to accusations when you spot something rather uncommon. Thankfully, the right people jumped on the case to avoid the spread of further nonsense when it came to this topic. We look forward to more home runs on Sunday courtesy of the torpedo bat.