The Yankees defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 20-9 on March 29, sparking debate about the fairness of their new torpedo bats.
Regardless of the criticism from fans, the bats are completely legal, as they follow MLB rule 3.02, which states “bats cannot be more than 2.61 inches in diameter and 42 inches in length,” according to Major League Baseball.
MIT physicist and MLB field coordinator for the Marlins, Aaron Leanhardt, made the bats in 2022, back when he was a minor league hitting coordinator for the Yankees.
“It’s just about making the bat as heavy and as fat as possible in the area where you’re trying to do damage on the baseball,” Leanhardt said in an interview with The New York Times.
The bats made their major league debut last season when Giancarlo Stanton used them during the Yankees’ 2024 postseason in the run-up to their World Series bid. At that time there were no criticisms about the bats, since he was the only person using them.
This season, the bats are being used by Yankees players Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells, according to the MLB.
The rest of the team are still using their regular bats, despite having the option of a torpedo bat.
Other MLB players using them are Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays, Ryan Jeffers of the Minnesota Twins, Adley Rutschman of the Baltimore Orioles, Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner of the Chicago Cubs, Davis Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays, Elly De La Cruz and Jose Trevino of the Cincinnati Reds, Alec Bohm of the Philadelphia Phillies along with Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets, according to Yahoo Sports.
Baseball fans have scrutinized the bats, with some saying they provide players with an unfair advantage.
In response, Jazz Chisholm of the Yankees posted, “for the idiots that say it’s moved to the label, you’re an idiot! Nobody is trying to get jammed; you just move the wood from the parts you don’t use to the parts you do!” on X.
Leanhardt has also debunked this sentiment, telling the Associated Press, “At the end of the day, it’s about the batter, not the bat.”
Since the bats are being used across the league the theory that they’re giving the Yankees an unfair lead over the other teams doesn’t check out.
Regardless of the bat’s reputation, they don’t seem to be going anywhere.
