The New York Yankees made headlines on Saturday with a team-record nine home runs, totaling 3,695 feet in distance. The power surge was fueled by a new type of torpedo bat, which features a unique design where the wood is positioned lower down the barrel, just past the label, creating a shape somewhat like a bowling pin. Players like Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all went deep in New York’s 20-9 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
On Sunday, the Yankees added four more home runs in a 12-3 win, bringing their total to 15 homers over the first three games—matching the 2006 Detroit Tigers for the most home runs in MLB history during the season’s opening stretch.
“That’s just trying to be the best we can be,” manager Aaron Boone said after Sunday’s game. “It’s one of the things that stands out. I always tell you guys, we’re trying to win on the margins, and that shows up in so many different ways.”
Major League Baseball has straightforward bat regulations, outlined in rule 3.02. It states that a bat must be a smooth, round stick no more than 2.61 inches in diameter at its thickest point and no longer than 42 inches. The bat must be made from a single piece of solid wood.
The rules also allow for a cupped indentation, which can be up to 1 1/4 inches deep, 2 inches wide, and at least 1 inch in diameter. Any experimental bat designs must receive approval from MLB before being used.
Former Yankees infielder Kevin Smith shared on social media Saturday that Aaron Leanhardt, a former Yankees front-office member now with the Miami Marlins, designed the torpedo barrel to increase mass in a bat’s sweet spot.
“You’re stepping up with a weapon that’s better,” Smith wrote. “Your near-misses could be clips, your clips could be flares, and your flares could be barrels. It’s true—just fractions of an inch on the barrel can make all the difference in those outcomes.”
Paul Goldschmidt, batting leadoff for the first time, launched a 413-foot home run off Nestor Cortes, while Cody Bellinger followed with a 451-foot shot that initially didn’t register on Statcast. Aaron Judge, using a traditional bat shape, hit a 468-foot homer, making the Yankees the first team to homer on each of a game’s first three pitches since MLB started tracking such records in 1988.
Cody Bellinger was first introduced to the torpedo-shaped bat concept during a batting practice session last season with the Chicago Cubs, though he didn’t use it in a game at the time. He received a more advanced version during spring training this year.
“I started swinging this one in spring, or even before that, and I was like, ‘Oh, it feels good,’” Bellinger said. “It was an ounce lighter than the bat I was using, but the way the weight was distributed felt really good.”
Bellinger, who won the 2019 NL MVP with the Los Angeles Dodgers, switched from a maple Louisville Slugger to a birch bat, citing MLB’s 2010 rule change that reduced the maximum barrel diameter from 2.75 inches.
“I’m usually a maple guy, but birch lets me get a bigger barrel because I wasn’t grandfathered in,” Bellinger explained. “So it’s all within the rules. They made sure everything was compliant before the season started, knowing that with the way these bats look, it was probably going to get noticed eventually.”
Anthony Volpe, who homered for the second game in a row on Saturday, started using the torpedo-shaped bat during spring training.
“The concept makes so much sense. I know I’m fully on board,” Volpe said. “The bigger the barrel where you make contact, the more it makes sense to me.”
Jazz Chisholm hit two home runs on Sunday, batting behind Aaron Judge for the second consecutive day. Chisholm said he began using the torpedo bat after hitting a double and a homer during spring training with Volpe’s bat.
“I love my bat,” Chisholm said with a chuckle. “I think you can tell. It doesn’t feel like a different bat—it just really helps in a meaningful way.”
Aaron Judge, who set the AL record with 62 home runs in 2022 and hit 58 last year to secure his second AL MVP award, didn’t feel the need to try something new.
“The past couple of seasons kind of speak for themselves,” Judge said after recording his third career game with three home runs. “Why change something that’s working?”
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy, who has experience with bat designs from serving on the boards of two bat companies, shared his perspective.
“Players are doing everything they can to gain an edge, and I think they should,” Murphy said. “Anything that benefits the offensive side of the game is good for baseball overall.”
