Yankees’ ‘torpedo’ bats elicit shock and awe around baseball after a 13-home run weekend

The Dodgers could be excused for thinking they dodged a torpedo. Good thing for them that in last year’s World Series most New York Yankees hitters had yet to equip themselves with the bat conceived by an MIT physicist turned baseball analytics nerd.

Aaron Leanhardt was hired away from MIT by the Yankees in 2018 and soon put his Ph.D in physics and bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering to use developing a novel shape of a bat, one that moved the fattest part from the end to the area where most contact is made.

Yup, looks like a torpedo, and that’s the working nickname in headlines across the Big Apple.

Result? The Yankees hit nine home runs in a 20-9 win Saturday over the Milwaukee Brewers. The first three pitches to Yankees hitters were hit over the fence — a record feat — and most of the bombs were hit by torpedos. The Bronx Bombers hit four more Sunday, giving them 13 over the weekend and tying a Major League record with 15 in the first three games of a season.

Leanhardt downplayed his contribution in an interview with the Athletic: “Really, 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.”

He acknowledged it didn’t take a rocket scientist or whatever it is they do at MIT to come up with the design. It might not even be a revelation.

“Ultimately, it just takes people asking the right questions and being willing to be forward-thinking,” he said.

Or maybe Leanhardt was inspired playing slowpitch softball. Bats used in those rec leagues — while metal — feature lengthy barrels that taper at the end, looking a bit like a bowling pin.

The instant success of the Yankees opened eyes. Expect copycats throughout the game.

“Obviously, [the Yankees’] performance threw a whole lot of attention to it.” said Leanhardt, who left the Yankees to become a field coordinator with the Miami Marlins this offseason.

Before he departed, however, he made sure his bat design was within Major League Baseball rules, that limit bats to 2.61 inches in diameter and 42 inches in length. The only other stipulations are that bats must be made of solid wood, not have a cup at the tip deeper than an inch, and not have pine tar or another grip substance more than 18 inches from the handle.

The rules say nothing about the location of the fat part of the bat.

“That’s the original concept right there, just take all that excess weight and put it where you’re trying to hit the ball,” Leanhardt said. “And then in exchange try to take the thinner diameter that used to be at the sweet spot and put that on the tip.”

Pitchers, of course, already detest the torpedos.

“It took a minute for the shock to go away, since from the bullpen they looked like bowling pins,’’ Brewers reliever Trevor Megill told the New York Post. “We weren’t able to process it. But that’s the game. It’s a big data race, with science and technology playing a huge role in baseball now. You can’t hate them for trying something new.”

Cody Bellinger, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells are among the Yankees using the torpedo. However, the jury is still out for Aaron Judge — baseball’s premier power hitter with 161 home runs since the beginning of the 2022 season.

He hit three home runs in the first four innings Saturday and another homer Sunday with the bat he’s used for years.

“What I did the past couple of seasons speaks for itself,” Judge explained to reporters. “Why try to change something if you have something that’s working?”

Teammate Giancarlo Stanton was an early convert to the torpedo, using it last season. His playing time has been severely curtailed because of tendinitis in both elbows, however, something he attributed to “bat adjustments” made last season.

He hasn’t said the torpedo inflicted the damage, but now that the bat is the talk of baseball, Stanton certainly will be asked for details.

Meanwhile, players throughout the game are curious.

“They should send a few over here if they’re going to be hitting homers like that,” Padres slugger Manny Machado said with a laugh during an in-game interview with ESPN on Sunday. “So whoever’s making ‘em, they can send a few over to Petco with this big ballpark.”

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JERAセ・リーグ 巨人4―2広島(18日・東京ドーム) 相次ぐピンチを、山崎伊は粘り強くしのいだ。5回までに4度得点圏に走者を背負いながら無失点。6回は3連打で1点を失い、さらに右足がつって降板となったが、5回2/3を7安打1失点5奪三振で2勝目を挙げ、3度目の登板で本拠地初白星をつかんだ。3回先頭では中前安打を放ち、開幕から4打数3安打の打率7割5分と投打で躍動。初の本拠地のお立ち台では「(光景は)投げている時と一緒ですね」とおどけた。 工夫が実った。前回登板、10日のDeNA戦(新潟)では初回に3点を失って初黒星。立ち上がりを克服するため、15球前後だった試合前の投球練習を25球に増やした。初回先頭の大盛には安打を浴びたが、最速147キロを記録して無失点と結果につながった。原監督は「非常にいい投球ができるようになってきた。ホームプレートを広く使えるようになってきているし、ボールそのものの勢いも出てきている」と評価した。 1軍マウンドで勝利を重ねることは右腕にとって恩返しだ。20年6月に右肘じん帯再建術を受け、多くの人に支えられてきた。巨人への入団が決まり、入寮を控えた21年の正月、父・厚志さんからはこう言われた。 「この1年半、2年がその先の5年、10年につながる。今は長い人生の中で我慢するときやで」 リハビリ中の状態は一進一退。リハビリを担当した巨人・水留トレーナーには「本当に試合で投げられるようになるんですか?」と漏らしたこともあった。その度に「状態が落ちる瞬間は絶対にある。一番ダメなのは、そのまま一番下まで落ちること。最終的に上がっていけばいいんだ」と励まされ、乗り越えてきた。 来月で手術から2年。当然、現在の状態に満足はしていない。「(術後)2年を超えたあたりからしっくりくる、と言われている。もっといい球が投げられるようにやっていきたい」。少しずつ本来の姿に近づきながら、恩返しの旅は続いていく。(小島 和之) 1回2死三塁、マクブルームの打球を足を出して止めにいく山崎伊(カメラ・相川 和寛)映像提供:GIANTS TV試合詳細

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