Seeing a pitcher struck by a powerful hit is one of the more gruesome aspects of baseball. This type of contact is extremely dangerous, and could even result in death by internal bleeding in the brain.
According to an Outside the Lines report, the MLB and the MLBPA are working to give pitchers an option—placing a new prototype cap in the hands of MLB pitchers for this upcoming spring training.
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The protective cap, designed by Boombang, essentially looks like a helmet with the top cut off to look more like a hat. Each helmet is specifically made to protect the most vulnerable areas of contact for both left-handed and right-handed pitchers. The headwear is 0.7 inches thick, made with a carbon fiber shell—it has been tested to protect pitchers at around 85 mph.
The list of pitchers that are set to receive this new cap varies from ones that have been struck by hits in the past, like Tampa Bay’s Alex Cobb, to pitchers that recently expressed interest.
Before this, two companies had tried to solve this glaring problem in the world of baseball—isoBLOX and Safer Sports Technologies. Former Padres and Mets pitcher Alex Torres made isoBLOX’s bulky cap famous. It was the first technology to be sanctioned by the MLB, back in 2014. But, Torres was the only player to adopt it—most other pitchers avoided the headwear because of its weight and unaesthetic look, even though it helped absorb impact from hits upwards of 90 mph.
Safer Sports Technologies solved the issue of style after isoBLOX’s reception, crafting a slick carbon fiber insert that is hardly noticeable in a player’s normal baseball cap. The MLB still has yet to approve of the head guard, although a couple of pitchers, like Houston Astros’ Collin McHugh, have adopted it.
So far, the reception from pitchers has seemed positive, but we will only be able to tell whether this new headwear will be universally accepted once it is put into action this spring. Additionally, in the past, pitchers have been hit by line drives at speeds of more than 100 mph, so while this new cap is an optimistic move for pitcher safety, it is still not the end-all for this issue.