New Bats in Major League

Many Major League Baseball players have been experimenting with new “torpedo” bats to start off the 2025 MLB season. These bats are becoming more common across baseball, as they are believed to help hit the ball farther. The New York Yankees tied the record for most home-runs through the first three games of the season with fifteen home runs while six of their players used the bats.

The Yankees also set a franchise-record when they hit nine home runs in a game against the Brewers on March 29th. They also set the record for most home runs in the first four games of a season with 18, beating the previous record of 16 recorded by the Detroit Tigers in 2006.

Not all players on the Yankees use this bat. Aaron Judge, who hit 58 home runs last season, is one of the players who decided not to use the new bat. 

"What I did the past couple of seasons speaks for itself. Why try to change something if you have something that’s working?" Judge said. 

At first, many fans thought it was just the Yankees who were using these bats. But a handful of players from other teams, such as Elly De La Cruz who plays shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds, use the torpedo bats. He recently went 4-for-5 with two home runs and seven runs batted in on March 31st, all while using a torpedo bat. 

De La Cruz’s performance made fans realize how these bats are helping many MLB players across different teams, and it’s not just the Yankees that have access to these torpedo bats.

“I think that it is helping players, but it shouldn’t be banned as long as every team is using it. Like, originally, I thought it should be banned because it was just the Yankees, but now it’s every team, so it’s like okay,” NHS freshman Blaise Mindenhall said.

Although switching to torpedo bats has become common among baseball players, Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa isn’t convinced that making the switch is worth it, similar to Judge.

“I tried them awhile in spring training… I feel like we need a full year of data to see how they play. For me personally, the way I was hitting, I was really comfortable with my bats. So why change?” Correa said.

Correa also indicated that the torpedo bats could make it harder to make contact with the ball, not easier.

“Cutters, sweepers, sliders, any pitch running away that you hit further down the bat, those are tougher to hit hard,” Correa said.

Although these bats are becoming much more common in the MLB, some fans might assume they’re illegal despite the fact that they do conform to MLB rules.

“It seems like it’s making its way around MLB. It’s definitely not just the Yankees. I think we’re gonna see more people — it’s legal. It’s under MLB rules and everything. Just basically moving the sweet spot down. Those balls that you’re getting jammed on, are finding some barrels,” Los Angeles Angels second baseman Nicky Lopez said.

The bats are designed so that there’s more wood near the spot of the bat that players tend to hit the ball with more often. The barrel of the bat is closer to the center of the bat, which causes the end of the bat to look skinnier compared to usual bats. 

“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,” designer of the torpedo bat Aaron Learnhardt said. 

Leanhardt is a former MIT physicist, and was the Yankees lead analyst last season, where he helped customize the new bats.

“At the end of the day, it's about the batter, not the bat. It's about the hitters and their hitting coaches, not the hitting implements. So I'm happy to always help those guys get a little bit better, but ultimately, it's up to them to put good swings on pitches and grind it out every day. So, credit to those guys,” Leanhardt said. 

Some baseball fans are unsure on how much the bats will help hitters, since it’s still early in the season. 

“Just moving the wood down the barrel, like that’s probably where they usually hit it anyways, but now just moving the sweet spot down there increases contact so much. But it’s also early in the season and pitchers with arms aren't really warmed up yet. We’ll see as this progresses, but I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe like an Elly De La Cruz has 50 home runs,” NHS freshman Kyle Duncan said.

These bats have caused conflicting opinions among MLB fans and players. As this baseball season progresses, we will see whether these bats continue to make a difference for hitting or not.