The New York Yankees set a franchise record for home runs with nine on Saturday at home against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Perhaps the team’s newly-designed wooden bats had something to do with it?
Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay detailed during the game how New York redesigned its wooden bats thanks to a franchise study on shortstop Anthony Volpe’s hitting patterns with the bat.
“[New York] moved a lot of the wood into the label so the harder part of the bat is going to actually strike the ball,” Kay explained on the broadcast.
This process might make the bat look a little heavy on the hitting side, but clearly, Saturday’s home-run rally hints that this strategy is working quite well for the franchise.
After all, it’s legal for New York to do this! The bats are still well within MLB regulations. The rulebook clearly states:
The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.
We’ll see if this trend catches on with rival clubs.
