The MIT Scientist Behind the Torpedo Bats That Are Blowing Up Baseball – WSJ

When Aaron Leanhardt was a graduate student in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was part of a research team that cooled sodium gas to the lowest temperature ever recorded in human history.

What his colleagues didn t realize was that in the rare moments when Leanhardt wasn t toiling away at the lab, he was moonlighting as a speedy shortstop in a local amateur baseball league. Leanhardt was good enough to play in a 2001 All-Star Game at a minor-league stadium in Lowell. He hit .464 that season.

We didn t even know about that, said David Pritchard, a professor emeritus at MIT.

More than two decades later, the baseball world suddenly knows all about the 48-year-old Leanhardt. He s the inventor of the so-called torpedo bat, perhaps the most significant development in bat technology in decades.

Leanhardt s creation exploded into the mainstream this weekend, when the New York Yankees tied a major-league record by bashing 15 home runs in the first three games of their season. Nine of the homers came from players who have adopted the torpedo bat, including three from infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Now, players across the league are desperately scrambling to get their hands on Leanhardt s creation.

via www.wsj.com

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