Trending TodayThe Science Behind the MLB Torpedo Bats That Everyones Talking AboutHow Do They Work? And Are They Really Better?Developed by a physicist, these bats have their widest part, called the barrel, closer to the players hands to offer a better chance of hitting the ball on their sweet spot "Torpedo bats," like the one shown here used by New York Yankees player Jazz Chisholm Jr., have a slightly bulbous shape that's similar to a bowling pin. Mike Stobe / Getty ImagesEver since the New York Yankees hit nine home runsa team recordagainst the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, the internet has been abuzz with chatter about the torpedo bats some players used during the staggering 20-9 win.But what are torpedo bats, exactly? And how do they work?To the untrained eye, torpedo bats dont look all that different from standard bats. But to the athletes and coaches who live and breathe professional baseball, they represent a major advancement in the sports equipment.The same bat design has been in existence for a century and a half, maybe, says Alan Nathan, a physicist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to NPRs Bill Chappell. And to come up with something new, to me, is always very exciting.With a torpedo bat, the barrelor the widest part of the batsits closer to the hitters hands. The bat is thinnest at the handle, then widens out at the barrel, then slims down toward the tipsort of like a bowling pin.Torpedo bats are custom-made for each player, with the barrel placed where that specific hitter tends to strike the ballan area known as the sweet spot.This means more woodand, thus, more massat the area of the bat that will be making contact, increasing a players margin for error at that area. The goal is to help hitters connect with the ball on the bats barrelat their specific sweet spotmore frequently. More sweet spot strikes, the thinking goes, translates to more hits and more homers.Shifting the center of mass closer to the hitters hands reduces the bats swing weight, which can make it feel lighter and easier to control. In theory, this design change not only allows players to swing faster, but it also makes them more agilethey should be able to make quick adjustments to their swing once the ball leaves the pitchers hand. Moving the barrel down the bat might also make that area easier to see in the players peripheral vision, allowing them to line up their swing more accurately.Because youre able to swing the bat faster, you have a little longer to watch the ball before you commit, says Lloyd Smith, a mechanical engineer at Washington State University, to Scientific Americans Stephanie Pappas.Even seemingly small adjustments can be helpful when pitchers are throwing balls at close to 100 miles per hour. Torpedo bats probably dont help players hit the ball harder or faster. But the shifted barrel may help them hit more accurately, which should improve their overall batting average.These nontraditional bats were developed by Aaron Lenny Leanhardt while he was working for the Yankees. (Hes now a field coordinator with the Miami Marlins.)Leanhardt is a scientist. Before starting his baseball career in 2017, he earned a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and a doctorate in physics from MIT. After that, he was a physics professor at the University of Michigan for seven years.Leanhardt came up with the idea for torpedo bats after talking with lots of players, who all wanted to make better contact with the ball and hit it with their bats sweet spot, reports the Athletics Brendan Kuty. He spent roughly two years honing his invention.Its just through those conversations where you think to yourself, why dont we exchange how much wood were putting on the tip versus how much were putting in the sweet spot? Leanhardt tells the Athletic.He adds: Its just about making the bat as heavy and as fat as possible in the area where youre trying to do damage on the baseball.Some Major League Baseball (MLB) players began quietly using the bats in 2023 and 2024. But public awareness of them skyrocketed last weekend, after the Yankees monster day against the Brewers. Yankees players hit three home runs in a rowon the first three pitches in the game.Are torpedo bats legal? Officials have confirmed they dont break any MLB rules, which require that a 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.Its too early to tell whether the bats will measurably improve players performance. But, so far, they seem to be boosting the Yankees: The team has hit 17 home runs through their first four games, which is a new MLB record, per Bleacher Reports Scott Polacek. (Though NPR notes that three of the Yankees nine homers were hit by Aaron Judge, who was using a regular bat.)Regardless of the bats true efficacy, they do seem to be giving players a confidence boostand that could be just as important.The game of baseball is so superstitious, Dan Russell, an acoustics scholar at Penn State University, tells NPR. It doesnt matter what the thing is, if you found something that makes you more confident, its going to work.Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe echoed that sentiment. He used a torpedo bat to hit a home run during the teams win over the Brewers on Saturday.Its probably just a placebo, Volpe tells MLB.coms Bryan Hoch. A lot of it is just looking up at your bat and seeing how big the barrel is, but its exciting. I think any 0.01 percent mentally that it gives you confidence, it helps.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.