If Max Muncy wanted a message from the baseball gods, they just provided a pretty strong endorsement against the torpedo bat. The Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman entered Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves off to a rough start,
MIT physicist Aaron Leanhardt has been credited with creating the torpedo bats. Leanhardt previously served as a hitting analyst with the Yankees before he joined the Miami Marlins as a field coordinator in the offseason.
Despite losing their first game of the MLB season, the New York Yankees continued their historic start to the year as they broke multiple records through their prolific home run hitting.
Most Diamondbacks hitters saw the torpedo bats and dismissed them. They are taking a closer look as the team faces the New York Yankees this week.
Will there be a significant offensive surge in baseball now that hitters across the league want their hands on the bats? Maybe, but not anytime soon.
The Yankees hit four home runs in the first inning off Brewers starter Nestor Cortes on Saturday, starting with three consecutive homers on three pitches. Their nine home runs broke the franchise record of eight and was one short of the MLB record, 10 homers in a single game accomplished by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987.
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Hitting coach Kevin Long says the team will try to get “a better understanding of the whole science” behind the bat craze that is sweeping baseball.
The torpedo bat became the talk of baseball after the New York Yankees hit 15 home runs — including nine on Saturday — over three games against the Milwaukee Brewers. The bats, true to the name, feature a torpedo-like shape and are custom-made, designed to ensure the densest part of the bat is where a hitter makes the most contact.
Players are intrigued. Reds star Elly De La Cruz tried it Monday and crushed the ball. One bat-maker contends Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton’s seven-HR barrage in last year’s playoffs was with a torpedo. The early version of the backstory is amazing: An MIT physicist-turned-baseball coach, Aaron Leanhardt, made an observation: