Is it the bat or the confidence that a bat that looks like a torpedo gives?

Anthony Volpe isn’t quite sure just yet, but after hitting two home runs in his first two games of the season with the new bat that a former Yankees analyst helped create, the shortstop isn’t changing a thing.

Volpe is one of about five Yankees who are using the new torpedo bat, in which more wood (and therefore mass) is closer to the label of the bat than the typical barrel. The new dimensions do not violate Major League Baseball’s official rules or the Bat Supplier Regulations, and they are not for everyone — like Aaron Judge, who indicated Sunday morning he has little interest in trying it.

But the early returns have been promising.

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe hits a three-run home run with his new bat on March 29, 2025. Robert Sabo for the NY Post

“So far, so good,” Volpe said Sunday morning. “It’s cool to look down at and the concept makes so much sense. I know I’m bought in. The bigger you can have the barrel where you’re going to hit the ball makes sense to me.

“It’s probably just placebo,” Volpe added with a grin. “A lot of it is looking up at your bat and you see how big the barrel is. But it’s exciting. I think any .001 percent mentally that can give you confidence helps.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cody Bellinger are among the other Yankees who are using the torpedo bat. Bellinger said the Cubs were swinging with it in batting practice last season, but never used it in a game because it did not yet feel right and the Yankees seem to have had more advancements with it.

“I think the benefit for me is I like the weight distribution personally,” Bellinger said. “The weight’s closer to my hands, so I feel as if it’s lighter in a way. So that for me was the biggest benefit. And then obviously the bigger the sweet spot, the bigger the margin for error.”

Volpe echoed that sentiment.

Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. hits a single with his new bat on March 29, 2025. Jason Szenes for the NY Post

“We were all just talking and saying, if it can help you foul off one pitch a season, it buys you one more pitch or it helps you one way, you might as well try it,” Volpe said. “It feels the same, see where it goes.”

But not everyone wanted to try it.

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“What I did the past couple seasons speaks for itself,” Judge said. “Why try to change something if you have something that’s working?”

The brainchild behind the bat, according to former Yankees minor leaguer Kevin Smith, is Aaron Leanhardt, a former MIT physicist who served as the club’s major league analyst last season and was a minor league hitting coordinator in the organization before that. Leanhardt left the Yankees this offseason for a promotion to become the Marlins’ field coordinator, but his work is still being felt in The Bronx.

“I know Lenny was working really hard on it,” Volpe said.

Aaron Leanhardt (l.) speaks with Zachary Fieroh (r.) in 2024. Leanhardt is now with the Marlins. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger hits a single with his new bat on March 27, 2025. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The new bats went viral on Saturday during the Yankees’ 20-9 ambush of the Brewers in which they hit a franchise-record nine home runs, with YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay explaining the new development on air.

“I’m sure there’s a part of our clubhouse and team that would have wanted it to be a secret, but it was always going to be out,” Volpe said.

“It’s all within regulation,” Bellinger said. “They made sure of that before the season even started, knowing that with the way these bats looked, it was probably going to get out at some point.”