With all the attention surrounding the Yankees’ torpedo bats over the last few days, one might think they’re the only team using them.
That’s far from the case, regardless of what opposing fans and uniformed talking heads may be suggesting since the funky-looking bats drew attention in the Bombers’ nine-homer, 20-9 win over the Brewers on Saturday. In fact, several other teams and players have already experimented with torpedo bats at the bare minimum, while others have said that they either plan on trying them or are at least interested in the design.
“I know it’s been going around a little bit the last couple of years with some teams,” said Aaron Boone, whose Yankees coaching staff employed torpedo bat inventor Aaron Leanhardt last season.
Leanhardt, now with the Marlins, previously worked in the Yankees’ minor league system, has a PhD in physics from MIT, and taught the subject at the University of Michigan. His perfectly legal torpedo bats have barrels closer to the handle and have appeared in the hands of current Yankees Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells, Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger.
Of course, non-Yankees are using them, too.
“We have guys using them, guys who have tried them,” Twins assistant hitting coach Trevor Amicone told the Daily News. “Some like it, some don’t. Bat companies have been pushing them this offseason. I’ve gotten a lot of questions from guys about them. Just trying to answer them. I’m not really pushing them one way or another on them yet. It has to feel right for guys, like any other bat adjustment.”
Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers is using the torpedo bat today pic.twitter.com/c88eYn4UcS
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 30, 2025
Amicone previously served as the Yankees’ Triple-A hitting coach, so he knew about the torpedo bats before this season. So did Brewers lefty Nestor Cortes – a former Yankee – who said Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Trevino, now with the Reds, actually began swinging the bats in 2024.
So did Bellinger, who tried the designs with the Cubs last season before settling on a torpedo model with the Yankees this spring.
“We were swinging it in Chicago last year for batting practice only,” Bellinger said. “We were all kind of looking at this bat like, ‘Hmmmm, what is this thing?’ You know what I mean? Because it’s so unique.”
Not so unique, however, that the bats haven’t popped up elsewhere across the majors and minors.
According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, Alex Cora said some Red Sox players tested the bats during spring training this year. MLB.com’s Mitch Bannon photographed the torpedo bat that Toronto’s Davis Schneider uses. The Rays’ Junior Caminero said he’ll use a torpedo sometimes, according to The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin, while Adley Rutschman is among the Orioles’ early users, per The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka.
“That’s not something that’s unique to the Yankees,” Orioles hitting coach Cody Asche said, per Kostka. “I think a lot of teams are doing that around the league. They may have some more players who have adopted it at a higher rate, but I think if you’re around clubhouses, all 30 teams, you would see a guy or two who’s adopting a bat that is fashioned maybe more specifically for their swing.
“I think that’s probably the next progression in hitting. Finding out where you hit the ball in the sweet spot and putting more mass there without changing too many things.”
While experimental bat designs are nothing new, Bellinger said that MLB hitters have put a greater emphasis on weight distribution and personalization when it comes to their tools in the last three or four years. He and Boone likened the shift to the way in which golfers are particular about their clubs.
Players on teams that may be behind the curve have said they’re interested in the torpedo bats.
During Sunday Night Baseball’s Braves-Padres broadcast, San Diego’s Manny Machado told ESPN he’d like a shipment of torpedo bats sent to Petco Park. That same broadcast reported that the Braves just placed an order for the bats.
The Braves put in an order for torpedo bats after seeing what the Yankees did with them on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/a0IrvhAwFt
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) March 31, 2025
The Brewers, victimized by the Yankees’ bats over the weekend, also expressed an interest in them.
Christian Yelich had not previously heard of the bats, but he seemed open to swinging some.
“If it is a technological advancement on the hitting side, it’d be cool because we’ve been kind of playing catch-up with the pitching side,” Yelich said. “If you can use technology to make yourself perform better, as long as it’s within the rules, why not?”
However, Yelich and other Brewers made it clear that torpedo bats aren’t the reason why the Yankees swept them in embarrassing fashion. As Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy put it, “It’s not like some magical wood.”
That comment came after Volpe, who loves his new bat, questioned whether it provided nothing more than a “placebo” effect.
Murphy added that his Brewers began the season without eight of their top 13 arms and threw a lot of pitches down the middle of the plate. Those will get crushed by any bat in the big leagues.
“My old ass will tell you this for sure: It ain’t the wand, it’s the magician,” Murphy said. “So if the bats help, I’m sure every guy in the league will be using them within a week. But I’m telling you, it’s the hitter, not the bat.”
