Marlins Coach Aaron Leanhardt, Architect of Yankees' Torpedo Bats, Swarmed By Media

The baseball world has gotten wrapped up in the New York Yankees' so-called "torpedo" bats over the first few days of the 2025 regular season, even though the architect no longer calls the Bronx home.

Aaron Leanhardt, who got his Ph.D in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked as a physics professor at the University of Michigan, is now a field coordinator with the Miami Marlins. He started developing a new bat with a thicker – albeit shorter – barrel when he was working in the Yankees' minor league hitting department in 2022, even giving it to big leaguers when he became an analyst at the MLB level in 2024.

The end result is a bat that fits all of MLB's rules and regulations, but with redistributed weight that makes the sweet spot even more dangerous.

In an interview with The Athletic, Leanhardt said he couldn't have created it if it weren't for the advice and input of other coaches, players, league officials and bat manufacturers. Still, Leanhardt has been credited with the invention of the bat, which could spark a movement considering the Yankees' 15 home runs over their first three regular season games.

Leanhardt spoke to the media Monday prior to Miami's series-opener against the New York Mets. As seen in a photo shared by Jack McMullen, the radio voice of the Marlins, Leanhardt was the man of the hour.