Pitchers should wear protective helmets

Being a baseball pitcher is dangerous. On May 7 in Tampa, Major League Baseball player J.A. Happ (Toronto Blue Jays) was hit in the head by a line drive. He was taken to the hospital with a skull fracture. Happ has not touched the mound since.

On June 15, a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, Alex Cobb, was hit in the head by a line drive. Lucky for him it wasn't as bad. Taken to a hospital, he was diagnosed with a mild concussion. He was released on June 16 and tweeted that he woke with a headache.

Some are wondering if MLB is doing anything to stop these occurrences of pitchers being injured. The answer is yes. Currently, it's in consultation with two companies to create an inner padding for baseball caps that would prevent pitchers from getting the worst of the blow to the head. These two companies have submitted prototypes to the MLB to be tested at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell Laboratory.

MLB Senior Vice President Dan Halem is not approving the cap unless experts say it provides adequate protection. Halem makes it clear that if pitchers decide to wear their own independent padding in their caps or a helmet, they won't be punished.

MLB, however, has not considered having pitchers wear helmets. So far, no new design has been made to satisfy the MLB requirements for protecting the pitchers.

Logan Venenga

Lisbon