In the 2025 Major League Baseball season buzz got in the air when players started to use a new bat created by Aaron Leanhardt, a former MIT physicist. This bat is called the “torpedo bat.” This new bat design has sparked talk with baseball fans, players, and coaches.
The torpedo bat features a unique shape that looks like a bowling pin. It was designed to move a lot of the wood at the end of the bat closer to the bat handle, aiming to help with contact and reduce strikeouts. Leanhardt, who transitioned from academy to baseball coaching, applied his scientific knowledge to create this bat, which a lot of players have been using this 2025 season.
The New York Yankees are the first team to use the torpedo bat, leading to an amazing offensive start. In their opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Yankees hit a team record of nine home runs. With five of their players using the torpedo bat like Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, and Jazz Chisholm Jr., this amazing offense can be credited to the amazing design of the new called torpedo bat.
Other teams have taken notice. On April 11th, the Houston Astros announced plans to use the torpedo bat during their Homestand. On MLB Network, Manager Joe Espada said “Players would likely use the bats in pregame and practice settings to assess their potential benefits.”
Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers has mixed feelings about the bat after struggling with it early in the season. He then chose to revert to his traditional bat during a critical at bat, resulting in a game tying hit. This shows that while the torpedo bat may offer advantages, it does not suit all players. However , players like Anthony Volpe have had an amazing start with the torpedo bat, with Volpe hitting four homeruns in the team’s first five games.
Kurt Ainsworth, co-founder and Ceo of Marucci Sports, predicts the torpedo bat across MLB will be the bat to use. Currently about 10%-15% of players use the bat, but Ainsworth anticipates that more than half the league will be using these bats. In the New York Post he said, “the torpedo bat is here to stay.” As the 2025 MLB season progresses, the torpedo bat continues to influence the game with players and teams researching and finding the advantages and disadvantages. This all goes to show baseball’s ongoing incline in finding something new to make the sport interesting.