Major League Baseball and the MLBPA worked together over the winter with equipment company Boombang to design a new form of protective headgear for pitchers. They settled on a hybrid carbon fiber helmet cap and sent out prototypes to 20 different major leaguers this spring.
Pirates relievers Mark Melancon and Jared Hughes were among the first players to receive the new pitching helmet, and they both took the thing for a spin Sunday morning in Bradenton, Florida ...
Hughes and Melancon throwing bullpens with their helmets. pic.twitter.com/QSkhMiPriD
— Bill Brink (@Bill_Brink2) February 21, 2016
It’s still pretty bulky, but sometimes you have to sacrifice style for safety.
These aren’t going to be mandatory, but we’ll probably see more pitchers give them a try.
