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The MLB has given the OK for protective caps for pitchers, for the upcoming season. They will be available for testing in the spring season, on a voluntary basis. Sounds like a good option for the pitchers to have.
Since it is optional, it will probably take many years before most pitchers decide to wear them. Sadly, the most likely thing to trigger greater popularity for the protective cap will be someone not wearing one getting seriously injured by a line drive to the head. Eventually, as happened with helmets and earflaps, this will move from optional to mandatory, most likely with a grandfather clause for the players who did not use one before it was made obligatory.
Of more immediate benefit will be the trickle down effect. MLB spent a lot of money getting this protective cap developed and now that it exists, it will start showing up in Little League and high school baseball because of concerns for lawsuits...."What! You mean there was a protective cap my Billy could have been wearing and you didn't bother to buy them for the team's pitchers?!!!"
I think the protective caps are a very good idea. A hard line drive hit towards the mound can kill a pitcher or seriously injure him and end his career. First base and third base coaches, while standing farther away from the batter's box, have been injured before with line drives. Now they wear helmets and this hasn't interfered with the coaches during their job. The same will apply for pitchers with these caps.
Whenever something like helmets is an option, it tends to not get used because individuals do not want to be "the guy" who chose to wear it despite the safety and protection it offers.
It would have been better had MLB mandated it. Then everyone has to wear it and nobody would have to feel self conscious about sticking out or appearing weak for volunteering to wear it.
Protective caps for pitchers shouldn't place any limitations on how the game is played. It seems a step in the right direction, but many line drives that smack pitchers occur below the cap.
Does this mean protective caps were prohibited last year? What about John Olerud, who wore one playing first base? Should he be banned from the HoF because he repeatedly and habitually violated a rule that protective caps were not "approved" until 2014?
Yeah, I think it will take quite a while to catch on. But I suspect it will become mandatory in little league, high school, and college, before too long. By the time those new players get to the big leagues, they will be used to wearing the protective caps.
I don't think it will have any impact on how the game is played. When I started catching in little league, there weren't any helmets for those of us playing that position. We just grabbed a mask (shin guards, and chest protector), and got behind the plate. Now, I think all catchers wear helmets.
I think baseball will be OK.....even with protective caps for pitchers.
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