How long before Pitchers at all levels (including MLB) wear helmets?

[3and2Fastball]

Yet another pitcher was hit in the head today with a line drive and taken off the field on a stretcher. How long before all pitchers will start wearing helmets? Does someone have to die first before a chance is made?

 

If your kid was a Little Leaguer pitching, would you require them to wear a helmet on the mound?

[PrinceEatMeat]

If they ever come up with any type of helmet design for a pitcher it will likely be voluntary. I don't see a lot of pitcher's choosing to wear them honestly. It definitely is something that has seemed to occur more than you'd think it would though.

[jerichoholicninja]

A very long time. Helmets would do little to anything to protect the pitcher since they get hit in the face most often. Softball style facemasks would be more beneficial. On the mound you're more likely to die by getting hit in the chest than in the face. The only deaths I've ever read about by pitchers has been when they get hit in the chest and go into cardiac arrest.

 

I'm certainly for players of all sports being protected in every way and if some pitcher wants to wear something for protection he should have every right to. But to require a pitcher to wear something seems ridiculous to me.

[RockCoCougars]

I don't see how you could pitch effectively with a helmet throwing off your balance. Not to mention in the summer heat, guys would roast with that on their heads. I'd bet that the risk of heat related problems would be greater than that of getting smoked with a line drive.

[trwi7]

A very long time. Helmets would do little to anything to protect the pitcher since they get hit in the face most often.

 

I'm not sure about that. Your first instinct when the ball is coming at you is turn and try to avoid it. Not to say pitchers don't get hit in the face but I would think getting hit in the head is more likely.

[SoupTown]

The problem is metal bats. They have proved a robustly struck ball gets from home to pitcher - faster than a human can react. The simplest first step is to ban metal bats across the game entirely. Or to only allow bats that mimic wood.

 

One day a parent will sue because their pitcher son was put into a dangerous situation - not protected.

 

Wood bats make the game more proper as well. I am so sick and tired in non MLB seeing pitchers win a battle... jam or get the outside of the bat, low and away, only to have the BAT propel the ball to the shallow outfield for a hit... when the batter was completely beaten.

 

When I was in Little League the smallest bat was a 28 inch 28 oz wood bat. Most kids, even 11 and 12 years old were swinging 30 or 31 oz bats. But if you are giving strong 15+ year olds bats that weigh 26 oz and the ball bounces off like a rocket, you have bastardised the game.

[jerichoholicninja]

One day a parent will sue because their pitcher son was put into a dangerous situation - not protected.

 

In New York, the parents of a kid that was killed while pitching (hit in the chest, not the head or face) sued the metal bat manufacturer. I'm not sure what the outcome was but I believe that using metal bats have been banned in youth leagues in either New York City or state.

 

Metal bats are a huge problem but the switch to BBCOR from BESR has made a huge difference I think. I just finished my 6th year of coaching high school. With the old bats, there were kids where I was quite afraid of throwing BP to them, even with an L screen because of how quickly the ball comes off the bat. Now after two seasons of BBCOR, I haven't been worried about that at all. Those bats make a HUGE difference in speed of the ball.

[Badger]

Id agree it will probably be a long, long time. Pitchers seem pretty opposed to any kind of helmets. Id like to see them adopt something like a hockey helmet with a full cage like they wear in college hockey.

I dont see that happening any time soon, if ever though.

[Baldkin]

If/when I have kids, there is no way I'd let them pitch without wearing a helmet. It isn't worth the risk.

 

The same way I probably wouldn't let any of them play football.

[Thurston Fluff]

On the radio during the game they were talking about how pitcher's deliveries today don't leave pitchers in a good position to field. Seems that would also mean they aren't in a position to defend themselves too. That might be why more pitchers are getting hit these days. If there is some reason their deliveries need to be that way then it seems precautions should go up accordingly. I think this is an area where the league should take the lead. Players tend to have a mentality that leads them to take risks. This is the type of thing they would be very reluctant to endorse if they even imagined a performance inhibitor.

[PrinceFielderx1]

I'm sorry, but one of the basics of pitching is being able to land properly after the delivery to be able to field a ball hit at you. If you don't want to be hit change the way you pitch. Don't make other pitchers uncomfortable by having to wear a helmet just because you don't pitch properly.

[AZBrewCrew]

Id be more concerned about the risk of commotio cordis (a blow to the chest which can throw you into vfib) from a line drive than a ball off the head. The chest area is a much larger mass (target) than the head. But it isnt realistic to put chest protectors on position players.

[SRB]

John Olerud always used to wear a helmet while playing in the field, I don't see why pitchers couldn't. Although to protect the face they would need a facemask and that would probably interfere with pitching.

[Baldkin]

I'm sorry, but one of the basics of pitching is being able to land properly after the delivery to be able to field a ball hit at you. If you don't want to be hit change the way you pitch. Don't make other pitchers uncomfortable by having to wear a helmet just because you don't pitch properly.

 

Is has nothing to do with not being in proper fielding position. It has everything to do with not having enough time to react to a Ryan Braun line drive at your skull. When the ball is coming back at you at 110+ MPH, and you are now ~50 feet from the batter, that gives you about .3 seconds to react and protect yourself.

 

The NBA says that .3 seconds is barely enough time to flick your wrist to shoot a basketball. Let alone move your hand 2-3 feet to protect your head.

[Patrick425]

The problem is metal bats. They have proved a robustly struck ball gets from home to pitcher - faster than a human can react. The simplest first step is to ban metal bats across the game entirely. Or to only allow bats that mimic wood.

 

They pretty much have already done this at the High School and College levels with BBCOR bats. The new bats have much less "pop" to them than the old bats. You no longer hear that *ting* sound.

 

Just about every sport involves some risk of serious (and sometimes even fatal) injury. After over 100 years of baseball being played and pitchers not wearing protective head gear, I would be very surprised if they started instituting something like this now, especially at the "non-youth" levels.

[Badger]

John Olerud always used to wear a helmet while playing in the field, I don't see why pitchers couldn't. Although to protect the face they would need a facemask and that would probably interfere with pitching.

A while back ESPN was talking that MLB was considering a kind of skullcap that would fit under the pitcher's ball cap and werent really looking at any kind of a mask.

[torts]

will never happen.

[JohnBriggs12]

Playing virtually any sport carries risks. So does crossing the street. It always has, but today anytime something happens on a field in today's culture, it's on video so it seems like there's more danger than ever. I'm all for taking sensible precautions, but not changing the way games are played or putting helmets on pitchers which seems like an overreaction. What, we'd prefer having our kids safe at home playing video games? No thanks.

 

Everything today kids play is organized with better and better equipment. We used to play neighborhood tackle football without helmets or any padding into our teens. Except for the occasional bloody nose, we survived. Today kids grow up with so much equipment on, they think they are invulnerable, and don't really learn how to protect themselves.

[3and2Fastball]

Everything today kids play is organized with better and better equipment.

 

This is inaccurate. Back when I played Little League we used wood bats. Today's aluminum bats are much more dangerous especially for the pitchers 12 and under throwing from 46 feet, the ball really jumps off of these modern bats

 

Getting back to the MLB point of view: I am sure there are companies trying to develop something that is light but provides more safety for pro pitcher's heads. I understand that relatively speaking pitchers getting hit in the head by line drives doesn't happen all that often, but still anything that can be done to help keep people safe is a good thing, I think

[MJLiverock]

Everything today kids play is organized with better and better equipment.

 

This is inaccurate. Back when I played Little League we used wood bats. Today's aluminum bats are much more dangerous especially for the pitchers 12 and under throwing from 46 feet, the ball really jumps off of these modern bats

 

I'm 40 and have never played baseball with a wood bat at any level growing up. (not to mention a hard coach who like to drill grounders at me from the pitcher's mound while I played SS and also like to drill kids in BP so they would know what it felt like to get hit by a pitch and not be afraid) There were always the newest hottest bats each season from at least as far back as grade school when I remember actually talking about the bats. Technology has certainly improved but leagues can limit that easily enough by certifying the bats through testing. Plenty of adult softball leagues have banned bats and placed limits on the technology.

[RobDeer 45]

Ok first off, you can still get hit in if you are in a "proper fielding position." Second, that is kind of old school, and maybe good to teach little league kids, but at some point you kind of have to just go with the motion that works for you. For some that's falling off to the side.

 

I too saw the special in the spring about protection for pitchers. Most of the protection was a hat with padding in it. The problem with that is it doesn't protect the temple or face. I'm really not sure what the answer is, but I think something will probably come at some point. Not sure if they could do something like a shield that came down to protect the eyes (like hockey) or maybe glasses that were protective, to go along with the padded hat? Hockey helmet with a visor on it, now we're talking!

[TheCrew07]

Ok first off, you can still get hit in if you are in a "proper fielding position." Second, that is kind of old school, and maybe good to teach little league kids, but at some point you kind of have to just go with the motion that works for you. For some that's falling off to the side.

 

Then they weren't taught to throw properly, falling away to either base makes it exponentially harder to be accurate with your pitches. I don't want to get into the whole discussion of muscles of having to adjust for arms, shoulder, and body all working in different planes of motion but throwing that way is also the most inefficient from a movement standpoint.

 

In baseball there's way too much, "if it's not broke don't fix it" mentality.

[PrinceFielderx1]

I'm sorry, but one of the basics of pitching is being able to land properly after the delivery to be able to field a ball hit at you. If you don't want to be hit change the way you pitch. Don't make other pitchers uncomfortable by having to wear a helmet just because you don't pitch properly.

 

Is has nothing to do with not being in proper fielding position. It has everything to do with not having enough time to react to a Ryan Braun line drive at your skull. When the ball is coming back at you at 110+ MPH, and you are now ~50 feet from the batter, that gives you about .3 seconds to react and protect yourself.

 

The NBA says that .3 seconds is barely enough time to flick your wrist to shoot a basketball. Let alone move your hand 2-3 feet to protect your head.

 

It has everything to do with being in the proper fielding position. By the time the ball gets in to home plate you should already be square to home plate ready to catch a ball hit your way. Many and I mean many pitchers don't pitch the proper way and it's their fault or the pitching coaches fault for telling them to pitch that way even if they are effective at it or not. Pitchers and pitching coaches have no basis to complain.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Ok first off, you can still get hit in if you are in a "proper fielding position." Second, that is kind of old school, and maybe good to teach little league kids, but at some point you kind of have to just go with the motion that works for you. For some that's falling off to the side.

 

Then they weren't taught to throw properly, falling away to either base makes it exponentially harder to be accurate with your pitches. I don't want to get into the whole discussion of muscles of having to adjust for arms, shoulder, and body all working in different planes of motion but throwing that way is also the most inefficient from a movement standpoint.

 

In baseball there's way too much, "if it's not broke don't fix it" mentality.

 

Thank you TheCrew! You couldn't be more right. Finally, someone gets it.

[Baldkin]

I'm sorry, but one of the basics of pitching is being able to land properly after the delivery to be able to field a ball hit at you. If you don't want to be hit change the way you pitch. Don't make other pitchers uncomfortable by having to wear a helmet just because you don't pitch properly.

 

Is has nothing to do with not being in proper fielding position. It has everything to do with not having enough time to react to a Ryan Braun line drive at your skull. When the ball is coming back at you at 110+ MPH, and you are now ~50 feet from the batter, that gives you about .3 seconds to react and protect yourself.

 

The NBA says that .3 seconds is barely enough time to flick your wrist to shoot a basketball. Let alone move your hand 2-3 feet to protect your head.

 

It has everything to do with being in the proper fielding position. By the time the ball gets in to home plate you should already be square to home plate ready to catch a ball hit your way. Many and I mean many pitchers don't pitch the proper way and it's their fault or the pitching coaches fault for telling them to pitch that way even if they are effective at it or not. Pitchers and pitching coaches have no basis to complain.

 

How come batters get hit by pitches in the head? They don't have time to react. When a hitter hits a line drive back at the pitcher it will be traveling even faster than the thrown pitch. Explain to me how reaction time has anything at all to do with being in a "proper fielding position"

 

Also, tell me Cobb wasn't in the proper fielding position:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzA4lRET768