The shadow of doubt was cast over the New York Yankees and their new bats at the start of the season as they just achieved a franchise milestone by exploding nine times with home runs in a single game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium.
Impressive display of power
The Bronx Bombers swept the series against the Brewers with three wins by 4-2 on Opening Day, 20-9 on Saturday night and 12-3 on Sunday, but it was the second game that raised suspicions, when the home team hit nine home runs and hit three of those impressive home runs in the first inning and consecutively against former Yankee Nestor Cortes, who from the Milwaukee mound could not believe what he was receiving in his first three pitches.
Then came Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe with other home runs high in the sky of the Bronx, but it seems that the shortstop was the first of the five who hit home runs against Cortes, who used the new bat, known as ‘torpedo’.
It was in the second of the series when the renewed bats of the Bronx Bombers made their appearance, with evident modifications that are obvious to the eye, as they have a shape similar to that of a bowling pin in the area closest to the tip, due to a greater mass, so the weight is concentrated in that area, in the barrel after the label.
The creator of the now controversial ‘Torpedo’
According to former Yankees player Kevin Smith, the new bat was designed by a certain ‘Lenny’, who Yahoo Sports identifies as Aaron Leanhardt, a former member of the Yankees management, who studied physics at MIT, and this was shared by Smith on X.
The new bats are designed to optimize the hitting performance of the Yankees players, and according to reports, MLB approved them as they did not find any details that would infringe an established rule that stipulates that the bat must not be more than 2.61 inches in diameter at its thickest part or more than 42 inches long.
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