NEW YORK – The New York Yankees’ Bats are the story of the team’s team’s franchise record against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. Then there is a discussion about the actual bats used by some players in the 20-9 victory.
The unique shape of wood is the result of two years of research and experiments that were transformed into overseeing the former Massachusetts Institute of Physicists.
The central problem?
“Where do you want to play?” Aaron Leanhardt said in a phone interview Sunday morning. “Where are you going to contact?”
Leanhardt, 48, started his job when he became a member of the Yankees minor league batting division in 2022 and brought it to the major league last season when he was the team’s lead analyst, some players including shortstop Anthony Volpe, tried the game during the game. According to outfielder Cody Bellinger, up to five Yankees will use them in the game now at least early this season.
Leanhhardt said the bats have torpedo-like shapes – custom made to players’ preferences, so the most intensive part of the bat’s design is where specific bats most often come into contact with baseball, and he became field coordinator with the Miami Marlins during the offseason.
“Really,” he said. “It’s just about making the bats as heavy and fat as possible in areas where you’re trying to cause damage on baseball.”
Anthony Volpe (with the “Torpedo” bat) congratulated the jazz during Saturday’s Yankees’ 20-9 victory. (Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
A Major League Baseball spokesman told sports Bats do not violate any rules. MLB Rule 3.02 states that bats “have no more than 2.61 inches in diameter and no more than 42 inches in length in the thickest part. The bat should be a piece of solid wood.” It also says that “experimental” bats cannot be used until the manufacturer obtains approval for the design and manufacturing method of MLB. ”
When asked if he was the inventor of the technology, Leanhardt said it was a collective effort, and the result came from conversations with coaches, players, MLB and BAT Makers.
“It’s thanks to those who accept it,” Leanhardt said. “But if people want to attribute credit to different people, then I’ll cut a few.”
But, a Yankee official said Leanhardt should get “a lot of” credit. After spending part of four seasons in the Grand Slam, retired infielder Kevin Smith also called Leanhardt the inventor.
Yes, the Yankees have a real talent MIT physicist Lenny (a man), who is paid. He invented the “torpedo” barrel. It will bring you more wood and quality – where you touch most as a batsman. The idea is to increase the number of “buckets” and reduce the mistakes. pic.twitter.com/csc1wkam9g
-Kevin Smith (@KJS_4) March 29, 2025
Leanhardt took an unorthodox route into baseball.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. Physics from MIT. From 2007 to 2014, he was a professor of physics at the University of Michigan.
Leanhardt began coaching in the Atlantic League in 2017 and coached at a Montana community college before joining the Yankees in 2018. In the 2024 Grand Slam, the club said he was the first “MLB analyst” and “responsible for integrating quantitative information with field and field performance and field performance.”
Why leave academia and go to baseball?
“I think one of the cool things about sports is that it’s very competitive,” he said. “The guys are willing to push the envelope. It’s just an opportunity to bring my background to a certain area and find innovative ways.”
Leanhhardt said talking to players over the years showed that their biggest concern was dual. They want to have more contact with the court and want to hit the ball more frequently in the “best position” of the bats or the densest areas.
“They will point to a position on the bat, about six to seven inches from the tip of the bat,” he said. “That’s what’s usually the best place. It’s just through those conversations about thinking about yourself, why don’t we exchange how much wood we put on the tip, instead of what we put in the best position? That’s the original concept? Just try to put all this too much weight there and try to hit the ball, and then try to put it where it is and then place it on a thin diameter, try to put it in a thin position so that it can be placed on the tip above that and put it on that one.’
Leanhardt said he did not see the disadvantage of redistributing the weight of the bat.
“Bat speed should remain the same,” he said. “Maybe the bat speed can be even a little bit higher depending on how you want to redesign the bat. But in the end, you’re getting a fat bucket, which is a heavier bucket at the best location. So in a sense, you can put the cake here as well. You can also get some gain here without actually making sacrifices.”
Leanhardt said he doesn’t want to talk about individual players’ experiences with the new bat. Yankees designated batsman Giancarlo Stanton told reporters earlier this month that last season “maybe some adjustments from the bats” resulted in a tear of ligaments in his two elbows that led to his current list of ongoing injuries, although he did not blame anyone on anyone. He then added: “I don’t know why it happened.” Leanhardt declined to comment on Stanton’s situation.
“You have to ask Yankees medical staff,” he said. “I’m going to recommend all of these questions to Yankees medical staff.”
It was “the nature of our business” and it took years to emerge for new bat designs, Leanhardt said.
“People look back and sway very heavy bats, and then someone has the idea of this genius to swing something lighter, like ash, and that’s revolutionary in the 1920s, in the 1920s, in the 1920s, in the 1930s, in the 1940s, and then stayed in this kind of industry for quite some time,” he said. “Ultimately, it just requires people to ask the right questions and be willing to be forward-looking.”
He was won by seeing the social media enthusiasm caused by the bat on Saturday. He said that while some players started using them last season, “the entire industry was in the wind,” it exploded during the offseason. ”
“That’s why you see it in the hands of so many guys right now,” he said. “Obviously, the performance (Saturday) has attracted a lot of attention.”
It took a lot of coordination from the design stage to the manufacturing of the bats. Leanhardt said he would “guaranteed” that he would oversee BAT regulations based on MLB officials and “everyone who operates the lathe for every Bat Warmudror the lathe in baseball.”
“You’re really just talking to every company and trying to find people who really know the wood and know how to turn the wood on the lathe. You’re just building relationships with these people and convince them that it’s the best interest of making for their players. They want their players to be as successful as possible. Some are coming in and improving the traction,” he said. “That’s really how it is built.”
(Top photo of Aaron Leanhardt, right, Marinth Manager Clayton McCullough: Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images)
