The Yankees’ ‘Torpedo’ bats that are breaking baseball, explained

Is the new bat an innovation. or a way to cheat the system?

The New York Yankees have cracked the code when it comes to hitting dingers, and it’s raising massive questions about whether they’re simply leveraging existing rules, or bending them entirely too much. This year the club introduced a new bat featuring what they call a “Torpedo Barrel,” and it’s quite literally breaking the game of baseball.

This was most apparent on Saturday night in a 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in which the Yankees hit an astonishing nine home runs across seven players. Even if we take that game as an outlier, New York is still crushing the ball at an unseen rate — more than tripling the competition.

In 2024 Major League Baseball teams averaged 182 home runs across the season for an average of 1.12 homers a game. Thus far in 2025 the Yankees already have 15 in three games, on pace for a record-breaking 810. The sample size is small, and obviously that won’t hold — but the result is still staggering as New York leads MLB in home runs, hitting three more than the Dodgers, despite playing two fewer games. That’s largely in part to the Torpedo Barrel.

What is the Yankees’ ‘Torpedo Barrel’ exactly?

At the most basic level it’s a new shape of bat. Rather than having an even taper from tip to grip, the Torpedo has a pronounced bulge in the barrel designed to redistribute the center of mass in the bat from the end, moving it down and where players most often make contact. The difference in bats is astonishing when seen side-by-side with a standard MLB bat.

Essentially what this change means is that the hitting of Yankees players is fundamentally altered. They are making contact with the sweet spot far more often, and plays which would normally be tip balls or flares are now converting into home runs.

Former Yankees’ staffer Aaron Leanhardt is credited with the design of the bat. Leanhardt’s Linkedin profile notes that he graduated from MIT with a PhD in physics, and spent almost seven years as a physics professor at the University of Michigan before joining the Yankees organization as a hitting coach in 2011.

Leanhardt unveiled the Torpedo Barrel several years ago, according to The Athletic — however almost no players adopted the new bat. A blend of tradition and superstition suppressed the idea, until the Yankees held a seminar with players about the bats this offseason and finally convinced them to try the new bowling pin-esque design. Now we’re seeing the phenomenal results of that move.

How is this legal?

There’s nothing about the new bats which is fundamentally against MLB rules. Section 3.02 outlining the rules of a bat leads with a basic description of what it takes for a bat to be allowed.

(a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.

Nothing about the Torpedo is in breach of this. MLB rules state that the thickest part of the bat can’t exceed 2.61 inches in diameter, but crucially don’t say where the thickest part of the bat needs to be. All Leanhardt and the Yankees did was choose to have the thickest part of their bat further down the barrel, rather than a uniformed tapered stick.

In addition, the Torpedo was approved by Major League Baseball prior to the season, meaning that it does not fall under the clause of “experimental bats,” as outlined in the rule book. While it anecdotally looks much larger than comparison bats, the reality is that a majority of MLB players have never used a bat that maxes out the 2.61 inch diameter, as the Topedo does.

Will Major League Baseball do something about it?

Not without a fundamental rule change they won’t. As we’ve established: There’s nothing illegal about these bats, though they do look very strange to the naked eye. Couple this with the fact that MLB seems to be celebrating the new design with numerous blogs on its own site and it seems the bats are here to stay.

Is this good for the game, and what comes next?

That’s up for debate, but anecdotally the answer is yes. Sure, there are purists who appreciate a low-scoring pitching battle, but more home runs equal more fun for a majority of fans.

The Yankees are a can’t-miss ticket now just to see how many dingers they will blast. Players currently on the team have said their opponents can’t stop asking them about the new bats, and it’s been reported that the Baltimore Orioles are exploring use of the bat, along with numerous other players around the league who are looking to make the switch.

While that might lead to a significant break-in time compared to the Yankees (who made the switch in Spring Training), the end result could be some of the highest hitting numbers we’ve ever seen in Major League Baseball. That could lead to new pitching strategies, and iteration in sports is never a bad thing if we see the tactical chess match of play take a leap forward.

It’s going to be absolutely fascinating to see what happens next with the Torpedo Bats, and it could usher in a whole new era of baseball.