The New York Yankees may have introduced the next big thing in hitting to the baseball world during Saturday’s 20-9 drubbing of the Milwaukee Brewers.

As the Yankees mashed a franchise-record nine home runs in the win, a notable change to the Bronx Bombers’ bat was pointed out by YES Network’s play-by-play broadcaster, Michael Kay.

The Yankee front office, the analytics department, did a study on Anthony Volpe, and every single ball it seemed like he hit on the label,” Kay said during the broadcast. “He didn’t hit any on the barrel, so they had bats made up where they moved a lot of the wood into the label, so the harder part of the bat is going to actually strike the ball.”

New York’s new invention wasn’t newly introduced for Saturday’s slugfest, but it caught the attention of baseball fans league-wide, who wondered if this new development was even legal.

MLB Rule 3.02 states that “The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood.” Additionally, “experimental” bats can’t be used “until the manufacturer has secured approval from Major League Baseball of his design and methods of manufacture.”

The bats are clearly something that have been in the works in the Yankees organization, as former Toronto Blue Jays and New York infielder Kevin Smith took to social media to explain the purpose of the “Torpedo” barrel.

“The Yankees have a literal genius MIT Physicist (Aaron Leanhardt) on payroll,” the recently retired Smith explained. “He invented the ‘Torpedo’ barrel. It brings more wood – and mass – to where you most often make contact as a hitter. The idea is to increase the number of ‘barrels’ and decrease misses.”

“They also feel a little lighter, there’s more weight closer to your hands so you can swing a heavier bat,” he added. “It kind of feels like those old wiffle ball bats you used as a kid, the barrel feels MASSIVE the first time you pick it up. But it’s really not THAT big.”

“It’s a big ass barrel and I like big barrels,” Schneider said.

The innovation clearly paid off for the Yankees on Saturday, and if MLB continues to allow the use of the new design, we might see a major shift in what hitters across baseball take to the plate moving forward.