Mar 29, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) celebrates in the dugout after hitting a grand slam home run in the third inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The New York Yankees have found a performance-enhancing drug—except it’s in the shape of a baseball bat.
The Yankees hit a franchise-record nine home runs in Saturday’s win against the Milwaukee Brewers. Aaron Judge and Ben Rice both went yard for the Bronx Bombers on Sunday, as the Yankees improved to 3-0.
When the Yankees lost Juan Soto to their Subway Series rival New York Mets this offseason, many around baseball expected them to slide in the American League East, predicting the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox to be much improved.
But these new, slightly odd-shaped bats have given the Yankees new life to start the 2025 campaign, and they’ve become the biggest topic around baseball.
Full disclosure: These bats are perfectly legal. Essentially, the Yankees found a way to shift the majority of the bat’s weight to the barrel—more specifically, the label—so the most powerful part of the bat is most likely to make contact with the baseball.
But it’s not as simple as the fat kid on the Wiffle ball field showing up to the playground with a big red bat.
The Yankees hired MIT physicist-turned-bench coach Aaron Leanhardt, who is being credited with this viral creation.
“Where are you trying to hit the ball?” Leanhardt said in a phone interview with The Athletic. “Where are you trying to make contact?”
The bats are custom-designed for each player, ensuring the majority of the wood is aligned with where that specific player is most likely to make contact with the baseball.
Leanhardt joined the Miami Marlins as a field coordinator over the offseason, but Cody Bellinger said at least five Yankees players are using the new torpedo bats he created.
So, the Yankees essentially hired a mad scientist, had him develop these magic bats, and decided to deploy them right as they lost Soto in free agency. Chess, not checkers.
Let’s be honest—these bats aren’t great for the game. They’re giving one team an extreme advantage. Sure, the bats are technically legal, but other teams would have to develop their own designs, send orders to a manufacturer, and wait for them to be created and shipped before they could even use them in batting practice or games.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Brewers closer Trevor Megill said. “It might be bush league. It might not be. But it’s the Yankees, so they’ll let it slide.”
Since the Yankees had their own analyst create these bats independently, the rest of MLB is at a disadvantage. New York had unequal access to innovation, which presents a problem for the league as it sets a precedent for further bat modifications.
In an absolute nightmare scenario, these torpedo bats could spiral out of control, making it difficult for the league to regulate equipment standards. This could lead to inconsistencies in enforcement and further disputes over what’s legal and what’s banned.
MLB already drew a line with pitchers when it universally banned the use of “sticky stuff” a few seasons ago. Now, the league needs to lay down the law with the Yankees on these loaded bats.
