Some Yankees players used a new bat during the second game in the Major League Baseball season against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The New York Yankees debuted a new baseball bat at this weekend’s season-opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers, their second game of the season. The bat has been causing controversy, after it was responsible for some of the nine home runs the Yankees made at the game, tying a franchise record.
The Yankees, who won 20-9, began the game by getting three home runs off of the first three pitches thrown in the game. The Brewers starting pitcher, Nestor Cortes Jr., had his first three pitches struck out of the park by Aaron Judge, then Paul Goldschmidt, and finally, Cody Bellinger, leading to an early lead for the Yankees.
The impressive three home runs in a row were later followed by a fourth home run by Austin Wells in the same inning, making the game one for the record books: it’s the first time the Yankees have hit four home runs in one inning.
«What a performance», Yankees manager Aaron Boone said to reporters after the game. «Kind of a weird, crazy game.»
During the contest, play by play announcer Mark Kay mentioned that some of the Yankees players were using newly designed bats. Two of the players using the bats hit home runs during the game.
What’s so special about the bats?
According to former infielder Kevin Smith, the Yankees’ new bats were designed by Aaron Leanhardt, a former physicist turned baseball coach. Leanhardt, an ex-physics professor who earned his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been working for the team for over six years.
