CHICAGO – The talk around baseball for the past few days has centered on the "torpedo bats" used by New York Yankees hitters after they bashed 15 homers through their first three games.

The topic isn't a new one for Twins assistant hitting coach Trevor Amicone, who spent five seasons working on the Yankees player development staff.

"What's new is not that people are using them. It's that people are noticing it," Amicone said Monday. "They've been used last year. The players that have been noticed are not the only ones that have been using them for about a year now."

Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers heard about the bats during spring training and he's using them in the regular season. They conform to Major League Baseball's size requirements for bats, but it looks like a bowling pin because the elongated barrel is shifted 6 inches closer to the handle.

Aaron Leanhardt, a former Yankees minor league hitting coordinator and analyst who has a background as a physics professor, is credited with the innovation.

"I will tell you that room for the last five years in the Yankees minor league hitting department was a room where nothing was considered crazy," Amicone said. "We were willing to try a lot of different things to see what worked. ... Aaron proved what he needed, and we saw the results at the minor league level."

Amicone doesn't try to sway any players to use the "torpedo bats" — some bat companies introduced them to major league hitters at spring training — but he's available to answer questions. Some past bat innovations created big headlines, like a hockey puck-styled knob a few years ago, but they proved to be more of a fad.

"I don't think it's going to be something that's an end-all, be-all for everybody, that everybody's going to start swinging these bats and become better hitters," Jeffers said. "I think this might work for some people and might not for others. For me, I'm giving it a little bit of a trial period to see how I like it."

Jeffers is using the same RJ-27 model of his bat, but it just has a different-styled barrel.

"I wouldn't even say it's bigger, because it just moves the weight around," Jeffers said. "It's not like you're swinging a cricket bat or something.

"I'm always down to try something that could make me better. This game is always evolving, and I've had conversations about, OK, pitchers are always getting better. They're always inventing new pitches. What's that going to be for hitters? Maybe it's something in the bat tech."

McCaughan joins bullpen

Darren McCaughan pitched 2â…” scoreless innings out of the Twins bullpen in Monday's 9-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox. He was called up earlier in the day, his contract selected from the Class AAA Saints, after Randy Dobnak was designated for assignment.

McCaughan, 29, pitched in 12 games for Miami and Cleveland last year.

Dobnak gave up two hits and one run in 5â…“ innings during Sunday's 9-2 loss at St. Louis, but throwing 79 pitches made him unavailable for several days. Dobnak is expected to clear waivers because a team would have to assume the prorated amount of his $3 million salary, plus a $1.2 million buyout for future club options, to claim him.

"Dobber went out there and saved our pen and our staff going out there and being able to finish the game," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "I think this will be a situation where we see Randy Dobnak helping us many times throughout the year."

Etc.

• Harrison Bader made his first start in right field since the second game of a doubleheader on July 21, 2018, his first full season in the big leagues. The Twins are open to using him in both corner outfield spots, mostly dependent on the ballpark. "You might fool around with the lineup, move guys around a little bit to make sure he's playing in the big part of the ballpark, so he can go run some things down," Baldelli said.

• Edouard Julien played an inning at shortstop and Mickey Gasper spent four innings in left field during Monday's blowout loss. It was the first time both players appeared at those respective positions in their major league or minor league careers.