Some of the Bronx Bombers are using this altered bat design, courtesy of Aaron Leanhardt, a former University of Michigan physicist. Leanhardt spoke about the hottest new trend in baseball, and one of his former U of M colleagues spoke to TV5’s Chet Davis about the science behind it.

Yahoo has taken a big step, announcing Friday that in its leagues, the MLB players who are using torpedo bats will be denoted with a special icon. Here's how it looks on their site, with the example lineup including Yankees catcher Austin Wells, Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor as the players with the icon.

Hitters have been raving about these unique, bowling pin-shaped bats. How do they work? And are they really better?

The new bats caused excitement when New York Yankees hitters clobbered home runs with them opening weekend, and that has some Portland players eager to give the torpedo bat some swings.

ARLINGTON - Joc Pederson became the first Ranger to deploy a torpedo bat. Result: Initial failure to launch. Pederson, a self-described bat lover, got a few bats on Friday from the Sam Bat and Tucci companies, gave them a whirl in batting practice and took it into the game against Tampa Bay.

Torpedo bats are thinner at the top with more wood closer to the batter’s hands. The Yankees debuted these new bats in their opening weekend and hit 15 home runs.

Of note is how D-backs pitchers handled the five Yankees who are known to be using the torpedo bat: Anthony Volpe and Paul Goldschmidt, who bat righty, and Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger and Austin Wells, who bat lefty.

But all the attention is on torpedo bats, the differently shaped bat that has helped power the Yankees' historic offensive start. On the torpedo bats, the barrel is closer to the label and therefore closer to the batters' hands.