The New York Yankees love the home run ball. They’re called the Bronx Bombers for a reason.
And they might have the answer to hitting even more: newly shaped bats.
The Milwaukee Brewers are getting an up close look at the home run-heavy Yankees and their powerful bats in the first series of the season. Aaron Boone’s team smashed a franchise-record nine home runs against the Brewers en route to a 20-9 shellacking on Saturday. Six Yankees hit home runs in the game with Aaron Judge posting a home run hat trick with three.
The Yankees have now socked 11 home runs in their first two game against the Brewers, both victories.
New York is a home-run hitting team – they have the reigning home run champ in Judge and led all of baseball in long balls last year.
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But if the first two games are any indication, the Yankees will shatter all home run marks in 2025.
Is there an explanation for it? Could it be the redesigned bats that at least two of the players are using?
Here’s what we know:
Yankees bats explained
As the Yankees were putting on a home run clinic on Saturday, Michael Kay, the team’s TV play-by-play broadcaster on the YES Network, went into detail about these new bats that had everyone’s attention online.
Kay said the team’s analytics department did a study where it found that shortstop Anthony Volpe with his old bat wasn’t making contact on the barrel.
The team, as a result, made a significant change and one that was visible when cameras showed his new bat on Saturday.
The Yankees moved more wood of the bat into the label area, making it thicker in that spot and thinner on top.
“So the harder part of the bat is going to strike the ball,” Kay said.
The change appears to have worked quite well for Volpe. He has two home runs in his first two games. He hit one of two first-inning home runs on Thursday in the 4-2 win and then had a three-run home run in the second inning of Saturday’s game that pushed the Yankees’ lead to 7-3. It was already the team’s fifth homer of the game.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. is also using this new bat. The cameras zoomed in on his bat at one point during the game.
And it’s made a difference early on, too. He hit a solo home run in the third inning to give New York a 13-3 lead.
Yankees bats comparison
Former Yankees infielder Kevin Smith joined the conversation online. He said the Yankees hired an MIT physicist who invented the “torpedo” barrel.
“It brings more wood – and mass – to where you most often make contact as a hitter,” said Smith, who was with the Yankees organization in 2024. “The idea is to increase the number of “barrels” and decrease misses.”
He provided a side-by-side comparison of a typical bat vs. the Yankees’ redesigned bat:
Are the Yankees bats legal?
Fans watching the game clearly noticed the new bats and questioned the legality.
What does the MLB rule book say about bats?
According to the MLB rule book, “the bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length.”
Chris Kirschner of The Athletic wrote on X Saturday that the bats are legal.
“Just to put this to bed, MLB says the new bats the Yankees are using are legal,” he wrote. The question now is whether more members of the Yankees will start batting with them. Or if other teams will take notice and implement these type of bats.
If they do, pitchers beware.
