The Japan Times - Ball-blasting 'Torpedo bats' making waves across MLB opening weekend

The New York Yankees blasted an MLB record-tying 15 home runs in their first three games of the season, in part due to the new bats, which have shifted the sweet spot of the barrel closer to the hitter's hands.

The groundbreaking, customized new design has given extra home run power to batters -- and added a new challenge for top MLB pitchers.

There's more wood mass concentrated in the area where bats are most likely to make contact with pitched balls -- six inches or so closer to the batter's hands -- but the bats conform to MLB rules. They just have more punch at the impact point compared to more traditional bats.

"The concept makes so much sense. I know I'm bought in," Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe told the MLB's website. "The bigger you can have the barrel where you hit the ball, it makes sense to me."

Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells combined to smash nine of the New York's impressive 15 homers with torpedo bats while star slugger Aaron Judge hit four and Ben Rice and Oswaldo Peraza each added one with traditional bats.

"As my career goes on, maybe I could start adding some of those in if I start losing something," Judge said. "But I think we're good where we’re at right now."

Nine homers against Milwaukee on Saturday -- including three consecutive home runs off the first three pitches of the game -- were followed by four on Sunday.

"We were all kind of looking at this bat, and we were like, 'Hmm, what is this thing?'" Bellinger said. "It's so unique. I think there has been some more success with it and maybe some more advancements.

"The benefit for me is I like the weight distribution," Bellinger said. "The weight is closer to my hands so I feel as if it's lighter in a way. For me, that was the biggest benefit."

Cincinnati's Elly De La Cruz hit two homers Monday with a torpedo bat in a 14-3 rout of Texas after testing it for the first time in pre-game batting practice.

"I just wanted to know if it feels good," he said. "It definitely does."

The specialized bats were created by 48-year-old Aaron Leanhardt, a former MIT physicist who served as a Yankees minor league hitting coordinator in 2022 and 2023 and a Yankees batting analyst last year before moving into a role as field coordinator this year for the Miami Marlins.

"I think Lenny was working really hard at it," Volpe said of Leanhardt. "Every time I'm on base, guys are asking about it."

Leanhardt said his tinkering with bat styles began when players noticed the top of the bat was fattest but that wasn't where on the bat they were trying to hit the ball.

"The eureka moment, really, was when players pointed to where they were trying to hit the ball, and they noticed themselves that that was not the fattest part of the bat," said Leanhardt.

"Everyone just looked at each other like, 'Well, let's flip it around. It's going to look silly, but are we willing to go with it?' You found guys that were willing to go with it. So I would say that was really the moment."

Leanhardt credited a "feedback loop" of informed tinkering to get where the unique bats are at today.

"There are many different makes and models that have gone through this process, some of which never saw the field of play and some of which are, obviously, hitting a lot of home runs right now," Leanhardt said.

- 'Send a few over' -

San Diego's Manny Machado would take one.

"I have no idea what they are," he said. "They should send a few over here if they’re going to be hitting homers like that."

San Diego's Xander Bogaerts added, "I thought it was a joke at first... I thought they edited the picture, because I've never seen anything like that."

Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable says, "I think that everyone across the league probably now is going to be looking into using these."

But Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he does not see the bats making a drastic change, comparing the bats to golfers selecting a club.

"We're trying to be better in every possible way," Boone said. "It's all within major league standards.

"Those things aren't new. There's just more people pouring into trying to optimize guys as best we can."

Volpe is seeking just such a boost.

"It's probably just a placebo," he said. "A lot of it is just looking up at your bat and seeing how big the barrel is, but it's exciting. I think any 0.01% mentally that it gives you confidence, it helps."

M.Saito--JT