MIT graduate Aaron Leanhardt is the physicist being credited with the innovation of baseball’s hottest topic. Leandhart, AKA ‘Lenny’, is a former New York Yankees analyst who is now employed by the Miami Marlins as a field coordinator.
Lenny, who serves in a typically loveless role, is currently the most famous man in baseball.
“There’s a lot more cameras here today than I’m used to,” Leanhardt said to a swarm of reporters. “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.”
The Marlins field coordinator would continue to deflect the praise saying, “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.”
Former Yankees player Kevin Smith offered up his testimonial regarding his time working with Leanhardt during the early stages of the torpedo bat inception.
“Most guys are using bats that aren’t even close to maxing out the barrel size. When Lenny measured my barrel compared to what’s ‘allowed,’ I was shocked,” Smith continued. “For the best in the world, any slight advantage could be the difference. It’s cool to see more people using them, Lenny was always amazed it wasn’t already a thing.”
Why Did It Take So Long For The Bats To Be Introduced At The Professional Level
The story took off after photos of the bats surfaced following the Bronx Bombers franchise record nine homeruns against the Milwaukee Brewers. But Leanhardt says that this was a long time in the making.
“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.”
Leanhardt continued to illustrate the hesitancy players had to make a change, stating, “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.”
Are Torpedo Bats The New Normal?
On all accounts according to all league rules, the bat meets every criteria needed to be deemed a legal and playable piece of equipment. With that being said, Leanhardt teases that these bats will certainly be making their way to Miami to be put in use by his current team.
“We’re getting ramped up right now with it.” said Lenny. “You’ll see them on the field here in a couple weeks or a month or so. Definitely something you’ll see here.”
ESPN’s lead baseball personality Jeff Passan attempted to educate the sports fans on the physics behind the bats structure.
“If the length and weight of bats are constants,” wrote Passan. “The distribution of mass is the variable, and Leanhardt conceived of a bat that optimizes both so it can do the most damage.”
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