A new style of bat that’s taken Major League Baseball by storm during the first week of the regular season may be coming to a minor league park near you.
The torpedo bat made headlines during MLB’s opening weekend after the New York Yankees hit 15 home runs in a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. While not all of the Yankees who homered were using it, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells combined for nine round-trippers while wielding torpedos.
The Yankees’ 15 homers tied the 2006 Detroit Tigers for the most in MLB history during a club’s first three games of a season. They also set a single-game franchise record with nine homers in Saturday’s 20-9 rout.
It didn’t take long for that power exhibition to grab the attention of other major league clubs and players. On Sunday, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that the Atlanta Braves had placed an order for the innovative new model. On Monday, Cincinnati Reds star shortstop Elly De La Cruz smacked a pair of home runs and rallied a career-high seven RBIs while using a torpedo bat for the first time.
During Tuesday’s media day at Virginia Credit Union Stadium, new Fredericksburg Nationals manager Billy McMillon said the buzz surrounding the torpedo has already reached his team’s clubhouse. The FredNats open the season on the road Friday evening, facing the Carolina Mudcats.
“I’ve heard a few of our players talking about the [torpedo], but it hasn’t actually shown up in our clubhouse — yet,” McMillon said. “I’m sure somebody in the [minors] has an agent who also manages someone in the Yankees organization, so it’s only a matter of time before we see it down here.”
The torpedo bat features a barrel that’s roughly six inches closer to the handle than that of a traditional wooden bat, giving it the look of a bowling pin. Since data has shown that many hitters make the majority of their contact closer to the handle than where the barrel is typically designed, the torpedo has piqued the interest of many in a sport that’s increasingly analytics-driven.
The bat was designed by Aaron Leanhardt, a 48-year-old with a Ph.D. in physics from MIT. After teaching physics at the University of Michigan from 2007-2014, he joined the Yankees organization in 2018.
Leanhardt’s creation has been deemed legal by MLB officials, and he even told The Athletic over the weekend that a few players in both the major leagues and minor leagues tried it during games as early as the 2023 season.
That doesn’t mean that everyone is sold on the torpedo, though.
“I think I’m gonna stick with what I’ve got now,” FredNats infielder Jackson Ross said, noting the adjustment period players must go through while transitioning from aluminum bats in high school and college to wooden ones in the pros. “I was using an aluminum bat in college [at Ole Miss] just last year, and I’ve finally gotten comfortable with a traditional wood bat. It’s all about finding what works for you, especially at this level.”
Outfielder Cristhian Vaquero, the Washington Nationals’ No. 26 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, took the same stance as Ross.
“I’m going to continue to work with my bat,” the Cuban-born prospect said while speaking through a translator. “I’ve heard good things about the [torpedo], but I like what I’ve got.”
Nats’ No. 13 prospect, catcher Kevin Bazzell, however, seemed a little more open-minded than his teammates.
“I’m sure we’ll see them in the [minors] soon,” he said. “I haven’t felt one yet, so I’d need to get my hands on it and see how it feels to swing it with the barrel being different. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s all we end up using at some point, but you never know.”
McMillon emphasized that no matter how quickly the torpedo hits the minors or how many players opt in, there’s still one key variable that it can’t account for.
“The Yankees led the league in home runs last year without the torpedo bats,” he said. “There are a few things that play into that, but most importantly, it’s a product of who’s swinging the bat.”
