MLB approves padded caps for pitcher protection

Just a day after Major League Baseball announced that they had approved a padded cap for pitchers to wear as protection from line drives, Cobb has stated he will at least try out the hat in spring training.

“I absolutely think it’s worth consideration, at least when I get to spring training to try it out no matter how inconvenient it might look,” Cobb told the Tribune. “But you kind of have to be realistic with something like this. The first prototype or model is not always practical or as state of the art as you’d like it to be when you do use it.”

McCarthy was injured by a line drive off his head in September of 2012, which led to a brain contusion and skull fracture, injuries that required brain surgery to help save his life. The Diamondbacks right-hander had spoken earlier in the offseason about the possibility that MLB pitchers could wear padded headgear as early as the 2014 season, but after testing the protective cap, McCarthy will choose not to wear it in the year ahead.

“The technology is there,” McCarthy told Stark. “It helps. It’s proven to help. But I don’t think it’s ready yet as a major league product. And I told them that. I told them that’s where it’s at.”

After months of testing prototypes, Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that it has approved a padded cap for pitchers to use for protection from line drives, reports William Weinbaum of ESPN.

The caps will be made available to pitchers in time for spring training next month. Their usage will be optional -- for now, MLB is not requiring pitchers to wear them. The newly approved caps, manufactured by isoBlox, are approved to provide protection from objects coming at a speed of 83 miles per hour and can give some protection at speeds of over 90 MPH. However, the line drives that can hit pitchers often are travelling at speeds of over 100 MPH. So while the new caps are a start, they will likely not be able to keep pitchers from serious injury on all liners.