“DRILLED DEEP TO LEFT FIELD! THERE IT GOES! SEE YA! THE YANKEES’ NINTH HOME RUN OF THE DAY.”
In the second game of the year March 29, in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, the New York Yankees set a franchise record of nine home runs in one game.
Over the three-game series against the Brewers, the Yankees clobbered a total of 15 home runs, raising eyebrows from fans, other players, and most importantly MLB officials.
The sudden power surge hasn’t been from the players themselves, it has been all eyes on the new “torpedo” bat.
The new bowling pin shaped bats were designed by Aaron Leanhardt, a MIT physics professor at the University of Michigan, according to ESPN.
The new design consists of a weight shift in the bat, which redistributes the weight to be centered 6-7 inches from the end of the bat, thus creating its torpedo shape.
Leanhardt began tinkering with the bat shape in 2023, when Yankees minor leaguers were complaining about how good pitching had gotten. According to ESPN, league-wide batting average was at the lowest it had been in a century, and strikeouts were the opposite.
“I love my bat,” Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. told YES Network, “It just helps you in a little way I guess.”
Players, especially pitchers, were instantly questioning if the new bats were legal. MLB later confirmed they were, citing Rule 3.02 which states that bats cannot be more than 2.61 inches in diameter and 2 inches in length.
Brewers pitcher Trevor Megill who had to pitch against the Yankees did not like the new bats.
“I think it’s terrible. We’ll see what the data says. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I feel like it’s something used in slow-pitch softball,” says Megill. “It’s genius: Put the mass all in one spot. It might be bush [league]. It might not be. But it’s the Yankees, so they’ll let it slide.”
But Brewers manager Pat Murphy had an opposite reaction, believing the change could possibly result in a positive impact for the MLB.
“Players are doing everything to try to get an edge today legally and I think they should,” said Murphy in an Interview with ESPN. “I think whatever is good for the offensive game is good for the game.”
Nonnewaug baseball player Jackson Demers, who is also a Yankees fan, agrees with Murphy.
“I think that the bats are good for the game,” says Demers. “I like more offense, and the bats are bringing in more homeruns.”
Demers thinks that with the new bats, baseball is just more fun.
“It makes it more exciting,” says Demers.
