The New York Yankees clubbed a franchise-record nine home runs on Saturday afternoon — including three from reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge — in a 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. That brings their two-game total this season to 11 home runs. That is a lot.
That will also bring some extra attention to a piece of information that YES announcer Michael Kay dropped during Saturday’s broadcast.
The Yankees are using new bats this season that move more of the wood into the label area, ensuring that the hardest part of the bat strikes the ball. That means the thickest part of the bat is closer to the middle of it, as opposed to the top barrel part.
According to Kay, the Yankees analytics department found shortstop Anthony Volpe rarely hit balls with the barrel of his bat and was almost always hitting balls in the label area. That prompted the Yankees to have the bats made redistributing the location of the wood.
The discussion took place during a Jazz Chisholm at-bat, with Chisholm using one of the newly designed bats.
It is worth noting that Chisholm was one of the Yankees to homer in Saturday’s game.
