First, it was the ban on home plate collisions. Now, MLB is moving forward to provide protective headgear options to pitchers to prevent head injuries.
MLB is taking a note from the head trauma mess that the NFL is imbed in, by taking the necessary steps to prevent head injuries going on.
Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon McCarthy said the option for headgear should be made available by 2014. McCarthy suffered a nasty head injury after taking a linedrive to the head while with the Oakland A’s in 2012, he required emergency brain surgery.
MLB has confirmed that at least one option will be ready in time for the upcoming season. McCarthy explained to Fox Sports, via USA Today in detail about the new gear:
“It’s going to look silly,” McCarthy said. “But it should be strong enough and capable enough that literally, if I got hit by the same exact ball, I would have been able to keep pitching in that game.”
Certainly, there will be those who vehemently oppose the new gear but with new innovations there needs to be time to allow players to warm up to the sight of seeing it utilized on a daily basis.
There was a time where batters wearing helmets was seen as ‘strange’. It’s high-time MLB made head protection available for pitchers, the league is tightening up on safety to avoid possible lawsuits in the distant future.