MLB field coordinators don’t generally draw media scrums.
But when you’re Aaron “Lenny” Leanhardt, innovator of the suddenly famous “torpedo bat,” you’re the exception to the rule.
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Leanhardt is the field coordinator for the Miami Marlins. He drew a crowd of reporters and cameras on Monday ahead of Miami’s home game against the New York Mets.
“There’s a lot more cameras here today than I’m used to,” Leanhardt said. “… It’s definitely been surreal for the last couple of days. At the end of the day, it’s about the batter and not the bat. It’s about the hitters and their hitting coaches, not their hitting implement.
“I”m happy to always help those guys get a little bit better. But ultimately, it’s up to them to put good swings on good pitches and grind it out every day. So credit to those guys.”
Why did the ‘torpedo bat’ just now surface?
Per a news release announcing his hiring in January, Leanhardt’s primary responsibility with the Marlins is “to integrate the use of quantitative information with on-field performance and preparation and serve as a conduit between the analytics department and Major League staff.”
But it was his role in developing the “torpedo bat” that generated headlines over the weekend, as New York Yankees players used the bats during a historic home-run barrage against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Aaron “Lenny” Leanhardt (right) is suddenly the talk of the baseball world. (Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images)
(Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins via Getty Images)
Leanhardt was asked why it took so long for baseball to come up with the “torpedo bat” concept.
“All I can say is I was one of those smart guys for so long that grew up swinging those old, weird-looking bats as well,” Leanhardt said. “It’s not until now that maybe anyone thought about this, myself included.
“You show up every day. You put on the glove you’re given. You swing the bat that you’re given. You put on the spikes you’re given. And you go about your day as best you can. Every now and then, it takes a little bit of time to question what you’re doing.”
“A couple of years ago, some of the hitters started questioning what they were doing, and I just kind of responded to their questions.”
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How did baseball arrive at the ‘torpedo bat’?
Before joining the Marlins, Leanhardt worked as a major-league analyst for the Yankees. Per a profile by The Athletic, Leanhardt began work on the “torpedo bat” in 2022 while a member of the Yankees’ minor-league hitting department. Now the “torpedo bat” is the biggest story in baseball and one of the biggest stories in sports.
Leanhardt spoke about the idea’s journey from his brain in the 2022-23 offseason to the start of New York’s 15-home-run outburst in three games against Milwaukee.
“This has definitely been a project that’s taken over two years to get to this point,” Leanhardt said. “So whether it’s one offseason, a full season, two offseasons — that tends to be just the time scale for guys to, maybe not just buy in but also for us to help make the adjustments to make it playable, actionable on the field for them.
“A lot of guys will test stuff behind the scenes. But they won’t take it to the field necessarily until it’s really dialed in for them.”
In total, five Yankees players are believed to have used Leanhardt’s “torpedo bat” design over the weekend. Those players accounted for nine of New York’s 15 home runs.
Why aren’t Marlins players using these bats?
Since the bat first garnered attention with New York’s nine-home-run outburst against Milwaukee on Saturday, players across MLB have been observed using the same bat design. Giancarlo Stanton reportedly also used a torpedo bat when he hit seven home runs in 14 playoff games last season, according to ESPN. So far, though, no Marlins are known to be among them. That should be expected to change.
“One of the big goals here is to be as innovative and on the leading edge of things as we possibly can be,” Leanhardt said. “This is certainly something we’re gonna look to be on the leading edge of. It’s just been a quick offseason for everyone. Lot of turnover and everything like that.
“We’re getting ramped up right now with it. You’ll see them on the field here in a couple weeks or a month or so. Definitely something you’ll see here.”
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The bats are easy to spot. Instead of the gradually tapered design of traditional bats, in a “torpedo bat,” some wood has been moved from the bottom of the barrel to its heart, where a hitter makes contact.
Here’s how Leanhardt explained it to The Athletic:
“Really,” he said, “it’s just about making the bat as heavy and as fat as possible in the area where you’re trying to do damage on the baseball.”
And if you’re wondering: Yes, the bats are legal. MLB rules stipulate that bats can be no longer than 42 inches and no thicker than 2.61 inches, must be made of solid wood and must not have a cup at the tip deeper than an inch. There’s nothing in the rules that dictates how the mass of a bat is distributed beyond those stipulations.
But do they really work? That’s up for debate. The small sample from three Yankees games is compelling but far from conclusive.
Still, until and unless these bats prove to provide some sort of detriment, expect more MLB players to give them a try.
