During Saturday’s commanding 20-9 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, the New York Yankees may have unveiled the future of hitting in baseball. In a game where the Yankees set a franchise milestone with nine home runs, YES Network’s play-by-play announcer, Michael Kay, highlighted a remarkable alteration to the team’s bats.
According to Kay, the Yankees’ front office and analytics team conducted an analysis on Anthony Volpe, observing that he consistently hit balls on the bat’s label rather than the barrel. As a result, they developed bats with additional wood concentrated in the label area, ensuring the more robust part of the bat makes contact with the ball.
This innovation, though not brand-new for Saturday’s offensive display, caught the attention of baseball enthusiasts nationwide, raising questions about its legality. However, an MLB representative clarified to The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner that the bats comply with league regulations.
MLB Rule 3.02 specifies that a bat must be a smooth, round stick, with a maximum diameter of 2.61 inches and a length not exceeding 42 inches, crafted from a single piece of solid wood. Furthermore, any “experimental” bats require MLB approval regarding their design and manufacturing methods.
The Yankees’ development has evidently been in progress for some time, as former player Kevin Smith, who played for both the Toronto Blue Jays and New York, took to social media to elaborate on the “Torpedo” barrel’s purpose. Smith explained that the Yankees employ an MIT physicist, Aaron Leanhardt, who devised the ‘Torpedo’ barrel.
This design increases the wood’s mass at the point of frequent contact, aiming to boost the number of successful strikes and minimize misses. They also feel somewhat lighter, with more weight shifted towards the hitter’s hands, allowing for a heavier bat swing. It resembles the oversized wiffle ball bats from childhood, although the barrel’s size isn’t overwhelmingly large.
Anthony Volpe is not the only Yankee experimenting with these unconventional bats. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cody Bellinger have reportedly adopted the “Torpedo” barrels to varying degrees in 2025. Mitch Bannon of MLB.com noted that he spoke with the Blue Jays’ Davis Schneider, who has also opted to use the bat this season. Schneider remarked, “It’s a big barrel, and I prefer large barrels.”
The Yankees’ innovative approach proved effective in their recent game, and should MLB continue to permit this novel design, it could potentially revolutionize the type of bats hitters bring to the field in the future.
