Jasson DomÃnguez (24 years old) from New York Yankees (24) in the third round of a baseball match against the Brewers Milwaukee, Saturday March 29, 2025, in New York.
Angelina Katsanis / AP
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Angelina Katsanis / AP
New York Yankees started a new baseball bat in the opening series of this weekend season against the Milwaukee Brewers, their second game of the season. The bat caused the controversy, after being responsible for some of the nine circuits that the Yankees made in the match, equaling a franchise record.
The Yankees, who won 20-9, started the match by obtaining three home circuits from the first three throws launched in the match. The launcher starting from the Brewers, Nestor Cortes Jr., brought his first three throws out of the park by the park Aaron judgeSO Paul Goldschmidtand finally, Cody Bellingerleading to an early advance for Yankees.
The three impressive Home Runs in a row were subsequently followed by a fourth Home Run by Austin Wells in the same round, making the first match for records: this is the first time that the Yankees have reached four circuits in a single round.
“What performance,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone to journalists after the match. “A kind of strange and crazy game.”
During the game, Yes Network Play by Play The advertiser Michael Kay said that some of the Yankees players used newly designed bats. Two of the players using bats hit the circuits during the match.
What is so special in bats?
According to the former inner field player Kevin Smith, the new Yankees bats were designed by Aaron LeanhardtA former physicist who has become a baseball coach. Leanhardt, a former medical professor who obtained his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been working for the team for more than six years. He was the assistant typing coach of the Yankees, before becoming an analyst. He recently moved to work for the Rivale The Miami Marlins team.
Smith posted on X that the “Torpedo” bat was designed to reduce the failures by the strikers. The bat barrel is thicker and wider than a standard baseball bat. The objective is to bring more wood and mass to the part of the battle which establishes the most contact with the ball, according to Smith, so that the striker is less likely to miss.
Yes, the Yankees have a physicist for the MIT of literal genius, Lenny (who is the man), on the pay. He invented the “torpedo” barrel. It brings more wood – and mass – to the place where you most often come into contact as a striker. The idea is to increase the number of “barrels” and reduce shortcomings. pic.twitter.com/scc1wkam9g
– Kevin Smith (@ kjs_4) March 29, 2025
Anthony Volpe, one of the players using new bats, said that he started using the bat during training in the spring. Volpe obtained another circuit in Sunday’s match against the Brewers using the new bat.
“The concept makes it so much meaning. I know that I am bought,” said Volpe. “The more you can have a barrel where you hit the ball, it makes sense to me.”
Not all players did not use the new bats in the game, and some of the circuits were made with standard bats, but the tied circuits have led to a question whether bats are authorized in the major baseball league.
Are the new bats allowed in the major baseball league?
New bats should be approved by the MLB before being used in the field. It is according to the MLB 3.02 rule, which indicates that “experimental” bats cannot be used “until the manufacturer has obtained approval from the major baseball league from its design and manufacturing methods.”
The rule also indicates that baseball bats should be a solid piece of wood which is shorter than 42 inches and cannot have a diameter greater than 2.61 inches.
An MLB spokesperson confirmed that Yankees battles comply with bat rules and regulations in the League, according to Athletics. Tigers manager AJ Hinch also admitted that there had been conversations on the new bat during the spring training season.
“The Internet has a great way to make things a big problem,” Hinch told journalists. “I didn’t really pay attention to it until today.”
Innovation in bats has changed MLB
This is not the first time that a new bat has been introduced into the Major League Baseball. White ash bats have been used for decades. Then Joe Carter became the first notable baseball player to use a maple wooden baseball bat in the 1990s.
In 2001, Barry Bonds scored 73 circuits in a single season using a maple bat, helping this type of bat has become more widely used in Major League Baseball. This link was discovered laterS may have used steroids during this seasonwhich may have contributed to its success.
The Yankees were also at the center of another controversy linked to the bat in the MLB. In 1983, two circuits made by the Royals of Kansas City, George Brett, were excluded by a referee after the manager of the Yankees, Billy Martin, noticed a large amount of pine tar on the Brett bat.
The referees judged that the Home Run had been made with an “illegally struck ball” due to a rule which indicates “that a bat cannot be covered by such a substance with more than 18 inches (46 cm) from the point of the handle”.
The protest that followed led to a reversal of the decision, and Major League Baseball modified the rules to say that if it is later determined that there is an excessive pine tar on an baseball bat, the game cannot be canceled if the object is not raised before the use of the bat.
