In a game often rooted in tradition, a new baseball bat is making waves, shaking up the sport with its unique design and unprecedented results.

The Yankees just clobbered a MLB record 15 home runs in their first three games thanks in part to a new style of bat developed by a 48-year-old physicist.

Aaron Leanhardt, the former Michigan physics professor who got his PhD at MIT and was part of the Yankees organization for six-and-a-half years, had a simple question he was trying to answer when coming up with the idea for the new torpedo-shaped bats five of the team’s players are using this season.