After Doug Fister catching a ball to the head on Thursday and after Brandon McCarthy’s broken skull, MLB is looking to move quickly on pitcher head protection. Indeed, as the Associated Press reports, there is a likelihood of hat liners for pitchers in the minors as early as next year:
MLB medical director Dr. Gary Green has been talking to companies about protective headgear for pitchers, Halem said. A report is on the agenda at baseball’s winter meetings in December. A cap liner with Kevlar, the high-impact material used by military, law enforcement and NFL players for body armor, is among the ideas under consideration.
I don’t know what the proper solution is here -- we’ve talked about pitcher helmets before and this Kevlar liner has come up -- but it’s good to see that the league is looking into it.