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Yankees' Weird New 'Torpedo' Bats Had MLB Fans All Asking the Same Question

Andy Nesbitt

Some Yankees players are using new bats that look different from normal bats.
Some Yankees players are using new bats that look different from normal bats. / @YES
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The New York Yankees belted nine home runs in Saturday's 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers and they had the baseball world talking about the new bats that two of their players used in the victory because they sure looked a lot different than what we're used to seeing in MLB games.

Yankees announcer Michael Kay explained during the game that the team's analytics department did a study that, for some players, hits were coming from around the label area instead of on the barrel of the bat. The team then made bats that have more wood in that area, which has already led to some success for hitters that had displayed that hit profile.

Here's how those bats look:

Here's more on how the team came up with them:

Those bats had fans asking the same question:

The answer to that question is yes, it's absolutely legal according to the MLB rule book, which states this about bats: "The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood."

It will be interesting to see how quickly other MLB teams start using these new-look bats.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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