NEW YORK — On Saturday, the New York Yankees made headlines by smashing a team-record nine homers, reaching a combined distance of 3,695 feet. The attention-grabbing performance was highlighted by their use of an innovative bat design, featuring a unique “torpedo” shape that resembles a bowling pin by shifting the wood lower down the barrel. In the Yankees’ 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, players like Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all hit home runs using this distinctive bat.
Continuing their power display, the Yankees added four more homers in Sunday’s 12-3 victory. This brought their total to 15 homers across the first three games, tying the record held by the 2006 Detroit Tigers for the most home runs in major league history during that span. Yankees manager Aaron Boone emphasized the importance of finding competitive edges that can enhance performance, remarking, “That’s just trying to be the best we can be.”
Major League Baseball (MLB) sets straightforward rules for bats: they should be a smooth, round stick, no more than 2.61 inches in diameter and 42 inches in length, made of one solid piece of wood. There can be a cupped indentation up to a certain depth and width, but any experimental models need MLB approval. Former Yankees infielder Kevin Smith shared that Aaron Leanhardt, once part of the Yankees’ front office and now with the Miami Marlins, developed this torpedo barrel to increase the mass at the bat’s sweet spot.
Smith noted the subtle advantages of this new bat design, suggesting that even near-misses might still result in positive batting outcomes. In the game, Goldschmidt led off with a 413-foot homer, followed by Bellinger’s 451-foot hit. Aaron Judge contributed a 468-foot homer using a traditional bat, marking the Yankees as the first team to homer on each of the game’s first three pitches since 1988.
Bellinger had first encountered the torpedo bat idea during a batting practice session last season with the Chicago Cubs, though he refrained from using it in a game until recently. Presented with an improved version during spring training, he found that its weight distribution felt quite favorable. Bellinger, who switched from a maple bat to a birch one, noted the adjustments required due to MLB’s 2010 bat regulations.
Anthony Volpe, having used the torpedo since spring training, hit his second consecutive game homer on Saturday. “The concept makes so much sense,” he said. Jazz Chisholm, who hit two homers on Sunday, had started using the torpedo bat in spring training after a successful trial with Volpe’s bat. Expressing satisfaction with the new design, he shared, “I love my bat. It just helps you in a real way I guess.”
Aaron Judge, who boasts impressive stats including 62 homers in 2022, opted not to change his reliable bat, stating, “The past couple of seasons kind of speak for itself. Why try to change something?” Milwaukee’s manager, Pat Murphy, commented on the evolution of bats in baseball, acknowledging players’ continuous pursuit of legal advantages and remarking on the positive impact such innovations can have on the sport.