Should this new wave of bats be illegal?
Torpedo Bat
The MLB has seen a new innovation to the beautiful and very traditional game in the last couple of weeks since the season started. On March 28th, 2025, the internet went into a frenzy as they watched the Yankees face the Brewers. Fans noticed something odd about some of the bats of the Yankees, especially Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm who had a very strange and lumpy looking bat.
via: yahoosports.com/mlb
What is it?
This is a new prototype of the bat that is becoming popular across the league. It is called the torpedo bat because of how similar the bat looks to a torpedo. This was created to help players like Jazz and Anthony Volpe not get jammed. Some players find it very hard to find the sweet spot of the bat when swinging and can cause them to not hit the ball as hard or as far as they can. This new innovation is a game changer and has brought the juice back to the park.
How is it made?
This bat came to fruition because of a man named Aaron Leanhardt. Aaron was formerly a professor at M.I.T but one day decided he was tired of that life and wanted to do something different. He decided he wanted to go into baseball and was hired as a hitting analyst for the Yankees. One day Aaron noticed that a number of Yankee players never hit the sweet spot when they hit the ball and started to do some tests on how he could improve their performance in the game. After a number of tries and prototypes Aaron finally came up with a solution to players getting jammed. He shifted the weight and materials and moved it down the barrel to change the position of the sweet spot. The results of this have been scary for all MLB pitchers. The Yankees as a team with a number of players using this bat have hit a grand total of 25 home runs in the first nine games of the season. After the rest of the league saw the Yankees doing it the rest of the league started to follow suit including star players like Elly De La Cruz and Paul Goldschmidt.
Via: brobible.com
Is it Illegal?
The major question everyone has had is, is it illegal? According to commissioner Rob Manfred the Yankees are abiding by the rules. The rule is an MLB bat can’t be more than 2.61 inches in diameter at its biggest part, cannot be longer than 42 inches, and must be solid wood. The torpedo bat meets all the requirements necessary to be usable in a game. Although this was confirmed to be legal league wide, many pitchers and ex-players disagree with this new bat. Brewers’ pitcher Trevor Megill said “I think it’s terrible” after being asked about the new bats after facing the Yankees. Pitcher Matt Strahm said “Let them use whatever they want to bat… but let the pitchers use what the hitters have in the on-deck circle and don’t check us like criminals” referencing how pitchers are not allowed to use any substances to increase their pitch grip and movement on the ball.
What happens now?
With a number of players beginning to use this new torpedo bat, the offense output of the league has improved. Analysts all over have said that baseball is losing money and people aren’t interested but this new bat has brought new eyes to the game. With more hits and monster home runs being hit, it brings more excitement to the game and in turn brings more viewers to the wonderful game. I think this is the next trend in bats and I wouldn’t be surprised if many bat companies follow in Aaron’s footsteps and begin mass production on the torpedo bat.
References
Phillies All-Star Pitcher Changes Stance on Torpedo Bats – Athlon Sports
Brewers pitcher savagely ripped the Yankees’ torpedo bats and MLB too – Yahoo Sports
2025 Yankees Player Hitting Stat Leaders | New York Yankees
‘Torpedo’ bat history and context