MLB to contact Cueto about protective headwear
After watching San Francisco Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto take a line drive off his forehead Monday night, an MLB official said the league "would certainly reach out" to the 30-year-old about wearing the protective "half-cap" they recently rolled out.
Described as a hat-helmet hybrid by Patrick Houlihan, the league's vice president and deputy general counsel for labor relations, the "half-cap" has generated positive feedback thus far - 20 pitchers have been experimenting with them this spring - though it hasn't been used in a game yet.
(Courtesy: ESPN)
"We feel like we've had a successful rollout," Houlihan told ESPN's William Weinbaum. "Any pitcher is free to have the product made specifically for him, and we've had some new requests for the product."
Even with a new design, getting pitchers to embrace protective headgear could remain a challenge, especially after Alex Torres was mocked in 2014 when he sported the clunky isoBlox cap while pitching for the San Diego Padres (and became the first pitcher to wear protective headgear in an MLB game).
Even some pitchers who have actually been injured by line drives to the face area seem reluctant to wear them. Archie Bradley, who was hit in the face by a Carlos Gonzalez liner last year, suggested he's not all that keen about sporting a protective cap.
"You know what you're signing up for. It's a hazard. It's a risk," Bradley told MLB.com's Bill Slane. "At the end of the day, you know what you're getting yourself into. You put yourself 60 feet, 6 inches away (from the batter), it's just part of it."
Last week, Cueto said some pitchers will resist any headgear that looks awkward, but he may be more willing to experiment with the "half-cap" after suffering a contusion from the Billy Burns line drive that careened into the right side of his forehead during Monday's Cactus League game.
"It's a good idea that MLB is trying to protect the pitchers," Cueto said. "One of us could get hit and get killed. But there's going to be some pitchers that aren't going to want to use them, because they look like they're a bobblehead."