After a nine home run barrage on Saturday — including three home runs on the first three pitches of the game — the baseball watching world has taken notice of a new “torpedo” shaped bat which several Yankees have begun using this year. The Yanks followed up that nine-dinger effort on Saturday with four more yesterday, and an MLB-record 15 home runs in their first three games.
The power surge initially had folks believing the Yankees might be “cheating,” and that somehow the non-traditionally shaped barrels of the bats were giving hitters an unfair advantage. Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay brought the new bat design to light during Saturday’s homer barrage.
One of the Yankees using the torpedo bat is Anthony Volpe, who was at-bat when Kay offered up this explainer:
The Yankees made newly-shaped bats that moved more of the wood into the label, so the hardest part of the bat strikes the ball.
(via @YESNetwork) pic.twitter.com/HZXwlGEuPV
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 29, 2025
“The Yankees front office’s analytics department did a study on (Volpe),” Kay said. “Every single ball it seemed like he hit on the label, he didn’t hit any on the barrel, so they had bats made up where they moved a lot of the wood into the label so that the harder part of the bat is going to strike the ball.”
With the Yankees having now set the major league record for most home runs in the first three games of the season, some fans are crying “FOUL,” and asking if the bats are “legal” for use in MLB games.
The league was quick to intone that the bats are, in fact, perfectly legal.
Major League Baseball confirmed Sunday that the bats do not violate Major League rules or bat supplier regulations. Rule 3.02 states that bats cannot be more than 2.61 inches in diameter and 42 inches in length.
“The concept makes so much sense. I know I’m bought in,” Volpe said. “The bigger you can have the barrel where you hit the ball, it makes sense to me.”
While Kay’s focus was on Volpe, he’s not the only Yankee using the newly designed bats. Jazz Chisholm also made the switch (and he hit a homer on Saturday and two yesterday), as did Austin Wells and Paul Goldschmidt. Cody Bellinger also made the change to the “Torpedo” model during the off-season, and said he tried it once last season, but only for batting practice. It’s not entirely clear when the other players switched over to the new bats, but it wasn’t until Saturday’s nine homers that attention has been focused on the new bat’s new shape.
Kevin Smith, a former minor leaguer in the Yankees organization, attributed the design to former Yankees analyst Aaron Leanhardt and noted “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.”
Of the new model, Bellinger said, “We were all kind of looking at this bat, and we were like, ‘Hmm, what is this thing?’ It’s so unique. I think there has been some more success with it and maybe some more advancements [since last year]. … The benefit for me is, I like the weight distribution. Personally, 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. Obviously, the bigger the sweet spot, the bigger the margin for error.”
As with every new innovation driven by technology, doubtless many other players will begin experimenting with the new Torpedo bat. Will “success” follow?
One Yankee who isn’t using the newly designed bat is Aaron Judge, the two-time and currently reigning AL MVP, whose success over the past several seasons speaks for itself.
“There’s a lot of new things in the game, like they’ve added the little hockey puck on the bottom of some guys’ bats to add a counterweight,” Judge said. “You’ve got the Torpedo bats; you’ve got so many different things. Hopefully, as my career goes on, maybe I could start adding some of those in if I start losing something. But I think we’re good where we’re at right now.”
Your thoughts?
Basic scientific method. Let’s see if
a) The Yankees can maintain that homer rate against non-Milwaukee pitching. Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt each have higher career WAR’s than the 12 Milwaukee pitchers combined.
b) A player’s HR rate or slugging percentage increases noticeably after switching bat models, given equal numbers of at bats.
The worst part about that top photo isn’t the bat. It’s the batting glove with the Michael Jordan logo. He’s wearing a batting glove with a maker’s mark/ad for a guy playing a sport where the players don’t bat or wear gloves.
Is Nike incapable of signing a baseball player it can use for a lifestyle brand to put on baseball equipment?
in re: He’s wearing a batting glove with a maker’s mark/ad for a guy playing a sport where the players don’t bat or wear gloves.
It’s also a maker’s mark for a guy who couldn’t hit a curve ball.
Michael Jordan famously never played any other sport than Basketball…
Then use him in a baseball pose, or a logo with the 45 he wore with the White Sox. But to have a guy jumping with a basketball as the mark on a baseball batting glove doesn’t make sense. Better the swoosh than the jump man logo.
I actually got to see Jordan play in a spring training game. It was exciting.
That’s the crazy part, they put most of their biggest MLB signees under Jordan Brand, thus preventing any of them from possibly creating the next Jordan Brand.
Junior Griffey should have entered the chat a long time ago.
Two things will probably happen: 1) more players will adopt these on different teams, and 2) there will be new bat-size rules this offseason or during the next CBA.
Since the barrel is bigger, MLB will probably want to place ads on the bats.
Spot on….!
Maybe the Brewers’ pitching just sucks (the native Milwaukee says, dejectedly)
If I were the Yankees I would have saved these for later in the year, maybe August or even September so that other teams wouldn’t have a chance to catch up late in the season/postseason.
You see any AL East projections this spring? The *entire* division is separated by seven-ish games—the Yanks don’t have a large enough margin for error to wait.
Looks to me more like a bowling pin in its general shape than a torpedo.
I don’t think that bat is an entirely new design.
If the bat is legal under the rules and they make batters have better contact, then all I can do is tip my hat off to the Yankees for building a better mousetrap.
Pitchers just start pitching these guys outside so the contact is made where barrel isn’t so big anymore.
I like it that Judge says he does not need any new things yet but might turn to them if needed later on in his career. If I start losing something…Which begs the question: is the torpedo bat mostly a confidence crutch? As a bat I find the concept very logical and interesting: pute more mass where the contact with the ball is. But is it really revolutionary?
I like it that Judge says he does not need any new things yet but might turn to them if needed later on in his career. If I start losing something…Which begs the question: is the torpedo bat mostly a confidence crutch? As a bat I find the concept very logical and interesting: put more mass where the contact with the ball is. But is it really a game changer?