NEW YORK — The New York Yankees’ bats were certainly alive during Saturday’s 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. And some of them looked a bit different than usual — though the league says they’re legal.

Early in the game, in which the team hit a franchise-record nine home runs, YES Network’s play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay mentioned that several Yankees players were using newly designed bats, including shortstop Anthony Volpe and second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who both homered in the game. These bats feature a barrel closer to the hands rather than near the end of the bat, which is the standard.

“You see the shape of Chisholm’s bat? 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 explained. “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. It’ll allow you to wait a little bit longer.”

The shape of the bat does not violate the rules, per a league spokesperson.

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.” It also notes that “experimental” bats can’t be used “until the manufacturer has secured approval from Major League Baseball of his design and methods of manufacture.”

Former Yankees infielder Kevin Smith said on X that a former member of the Yankees’ front office, Aaron Leanhardt, developed the “Torpedo” barrel. The thinking behind the barrel’s new shape is to bring more wood and mass to where a hitter makes contact more often. The idea is to increase the number of barrels and decrease misses.

“You’re going up with a weapon that can be better,” Smith wrote of what he was told by the organization. “Your just misses could be clips, your clips could be flares, and your flares could (be) barrels. And it was true, it’s fractions of an inch on the barrel differentiating these outcomes.”

The bats and their unique design seem to have drawn notice from others around the league.

“There was a little bit of conversation around spring training,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said before his team’s game against the Dodgers. “I don’t really understand it, the bat companies and stuff like that. But it will get plenty of attention now. The internet has a beautiful way of bringing things to be a big deal. I hadn’t paid a ton of attention to it really until today.”

Of course, slugging nine homers has a way of garnering attention.

— With The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen

(Top photo of Anthony Volpe: Mike Stobe / Getty Images)