Each baseball season brings on league-wide sensations. For 2025, the buzz is coming from the Bronx and the New York Yankees' new torpedo-style bats. Teams around the league have taken notice at the offensive fireworks that were set off in Yankee Stadium this past weekend.
New York tied an MLB record with 15 home runs through their first three games of a season. However, the storyline surrounding the Bronx Bombers focuses the choice of multiple players hitting with this new bat.
The Yankees had an MIT physicist create the bat by moving more wood (mass) to the area of the bat individual hitters most often make contact. Not every Yankee is using them (Aaron Judge has hit four home runs with his original bat), but Jazz Chisholm, Anthony Volpe, and others have taken a liking to them.
Yes, the Yankees have a literal genius MIT Physicist, Lenny (who is the man), on payroll. He invented the “Torpedo” barrel. It brings more wood - and mass - to where you most often make contact as a hitter. The idea is to increase the number of “barrels” and decrease misses. pic.twitter.com/CsC1wkAM9G
— Kevin Smith (@KJS_4) March 29, 2025
According to Buster Olney on last night's Sunday night broadcast, the Atlanta Braves are one of the teams that may be following the torpedo bat craze. Olney reported that Atlanta has placed an order for those bats after witnessing what New York did with them over the weekend.
The Braves offense started off decent with some unlucky batted ball results early on, but it's overall been a tough watch. The Braves were shut out in the final two games of their series against the Padres and didn't get a runner to second base on Sunday night while the Padres pitching staff faced the minimum amount of batters.
Braves will soon join torpedo bat craze taking over MLB
A number of teams have already jumped on the opportunity, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, but plenty of individual players across the league already started using them. You can check out the full list — contrary to popular belief, this is not a secret by any means. Even Braves top prospect Drake Baldwin used the torpedo-style bat in the Arizona Fall League.
Baldwin said the bat definitely looks different and takes getting used to, but once hitters adjust it has a nice feel to it. If the usage leads to the results the Yankees got this weekend, then we're pretty sure the Braves can course correct rather quickly.
This won't be an overnight change, though. The design of these bats is catered to each individual player, who have to go through a simulator to test their bat speed and sweet spot. Time to get in the lab, Braves! The season needs saving now.