The New York Yankees’ record-setting start to the season raised eyebrows across baseball thanks to an unexpected star: a former physicist no longer employed by the team credited with inventing the “torpedo bats” used by several players during the team’s home run barrage.

Torpedo bats became the unexpected stars of MLB’s opening weekend.

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Key Facts

The torpedo bats differ from traditional wood bats, which gradually get thicker moving away from the handle until plateauing at the same width until the edge, as they distribute more weight toward the bat’s handle and narrow at the end of the bat, creating a “sweet spot” barrel closer to the batter’s hands, designed to distribute weight to the area batters most frequently make contact with the ball.

Former University of Michigan physics professor Aaron Leanhardt is credited with inventing the torpedo bat while serving as the Yankees’ lead analyst last year, and Leanhardt explained to The Athletic his idea was to make “the bat as heavy and as fat as possible in the area where you’re trying to do damage on the baseball.”

Leanhardt now works for the Miami Marlins, but the Yankees popularized the torpedo bats for their historic start to the 2025 season.

New York’s 15 home runs during its season-opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers tied a 2006 Major League Baseball record for most home runs in a team’s first three games, highlighted by Saturday’s game featuring the first time ever a team homered on the first free pitches it faced, though headlines were dominated by the funky looking lumber used by some Yankees.

Nine of the Yankees’ 15 home runs came from players using the torpedo bats, according to ESPN – Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells – though the Yankees are not the only team using the innovation.

Yahoo Sports reports players on at least six other teams swung the torpedo bats last weekend, while one notable Yankee did not take part in the torpedo bat phenomenon, Aaron Judge, who has a league-leading four home runs and 11 runs batted in.

Are Torpedo Bats Legal?

Yes. The league office said Sunday the oddly shaped lumber falls within its bat guidelines, which simply calls for bats to be “one piece of solid wood” formed into a “smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length.” Still, it’s not uncommon in sports for a league to re-evaluate bylaws when a single team or player employs an overpowering strategy—see the “tush push” short yardage play used by the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles which the National Football League reportedly may ban this offseason.

Chief Critic

Brewers pitchers were expectedly not enthused about the Yankees’ torpedo bat-fueled offensive barrage. Milwaukee reliever Trevor Megill told the New York Post he thinks the bats are “terrible” and it’s like “something used in slow pitch softball.” Megill added the bats “might” be unfair, but “it’s the Yankees, so they’ll let it slide.” Brewers manager Pat Murphy declined to blame his team’s tough opening series on the bats, telling The Athletic: “It ain’t the wand, it’s the magician.” “The barrel is bigger and within mlb regulation! For the idiots that say [the sweet spot]

moved to the label you’re an idiot!,” Chisholm slapped back on social media Monday.

Forbes Valuations

The Yankees are by far the most valuable baseball team in the world, worth $8.2 billion according to our calculations. That’s four times more than the median MLB team’s $2.05 billion valuation. Judge is the fourth highest-paid player in the league with $48 million in earnings this year, including $8 million in endorsements.

Further Reading

ForbesBaseball’s Most Valuable Teams 2025By Justin Teitelbaum ForbesBaseball’s Highest-Paid Players 2025By Justin Birnbaum