Batter Up: Physics Meets Baseball

Major League Baseball (MLB) hosted opening day for all teams on Thursday, March 27, 2025. This year viewers noticed that the bats being used by a variety of teams, seem to have a different shape than traditional bats used in the past. Traditional/standard bats taper towards an end cap that is thick in diameter which is the sweet spot of the barrel. With the idea of a Torpedo bat, the mass is moved about 6 inches lower, which ESPN says “The torpedo bat moves some of the mass on the end of the bat about 6 to 7 inches lower, giving it a bowling-pin shape, with a much thinner end”.

The team most noted for using these new bats is the New York Yankees in their series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Designed by an MIT physicist Aaron Leanhardt, the torpedo bat was a result of years of studying and teaching physics. He is quoted saying “At the end of the day it’s about the batter, not the bat” which yes, is true as the relationship between a player and their bat is significant. Yet the number of years it took to design this bat, researchers must also take into account the role of physics. 

Earning his PhD in physics from MIT, Leanhardt has just a bit of history of baseball. While teaching 7 years at the University of Michigan, he was also a baseball coach. The Yankees then hired him in 2018, making his way to the team’s major league analyst. This season he is helping out the Miami Marlins as their field coordinator. While teaching for seven years, it took him about 2 years to calculate, design, and produce the concept of the torpedo bat into the MLB’s regulations.

While the introduction to the torpedo bat may have changed the MLB, it also blends a tight line between physics (academics) with baseball (athletics). As the New York Yankees and other teams explore its potential, it is important to note that all changes are legal within the MLB regulations. With this fans can plan on hearing about the debate on standard vs. torpedo bats for possibly the rest of the season and more afterwards. 

Tatyana Da Silva

DiSportsPhotoAgency

Writer