Standing in front of his Yankee Stadium locker on Sunday, Anthony Volpe presented two bats for inspection. In his left hand, the Yankees shortstop displayed one he had used last season; in his right,

Torpedo bats drew attention over the weekend when the New York Yankees hit a team-record nine homers in one game.

The New York Yankees' new torpedo bats, developed by MIT physicist Aaron Leanhardt who has also done work for NASA, have gone viral and sparked a fierce debate.

But the development of the uniquely shaped piece of lumber — it looks more like a bowling pin than a traditional bat, with a thicker middle and tapered end — wasn't the result of a life spent around the game. Instead, it was the application of skills and knowledge that he cultivated in higher education.

The torpedo bat became the talk of baseball after the New York Yankees hit 15 home runs — including nine on Saturday — over three games against the Milwaukee Brewers. The bats, true to the name, feature a torpedo-like shape and are custom-made, designed to ensure the densest part of the bat is where a hitter makes the most contact.

Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton said he'll continue using a torpedo bat whenever he returns from pain in both elbows, but also declined to say whether he thought using the new model might have caused his injury.

Torpedo bats have taken the baseball world by storm over the last few days, and that storm has reached the Texas Rangers. According to a report from Evan Grant