The terrible injury to Rays pitcher Alex Cobb over the weekend has once again sparked Major League Baseball's second-favorite debate--whether pitchers need to have some extra sort of protection on the mound or not. This isn't entirely surprising. But doing something, whatever it is, just for the sake of doing something would be the wrong thing to do. Sometimes accidents just happen. Overreacting when they do isn't a solution.
I'm not saying it wasn't horrifying to see Cobb get hit. It was equally horrifying when it happened to J.A. Happ earlier this season or Brandon McCarthy last season. Frankly, it's a small miracle that, with the number of line drives regularly hit back through the middle, we don't see this happen more often. You obviously never want to see something like that happen on a baseball diamond. Red Sox pitcher Bryce Florie's career ended when he took a line drive off the face in a scene no one should have to see a few years ago. The calls all went out then, too. Common sense prevailed each time, though.
It's like the absurdity of those who said blocking the plate should be banned after Buster Posey's season-ending broken leg in 2011. Was it horrible he got hurt? Yes. But nobody did anything wrong on the Posey play. It was just one of those things. And, fortunately, the drastic changes some wanted to make as a result fell on deaf ears. I get what they're saying, but they're wrong. Telling a catchers that they can't block the plate would've fundamentally changed the way the game is played. You can't tell a guy to let the other team score without even attempting to get the out just because of the possibility he might get hurt on the play. That's simply asinine.
Likewise, I've never been a fan of first and third base coaches wearing helmets. That was a direct response to the tragic death of Rockies minor league coach Mike Coolbaugh during a game in late 2007. Helmets were made mandatory the following year. Again, I get the whole safety thing. But I think it's unnecessary. Mike Coolbaugh's death was a combination of freak circumstances that turned tragic. He got hit in the neck. A helmet wouldn't have protected him.
How much a helmet would actually protect a pitcher on these comebackers is also debatable. Helmet or not, if the ball is hit hard enough, he's not going to have time to react. Plain and simple. Regardless, a helmet's not going to cover his face, so Florie's gruesome injury still would've happened even if he had a helmet or some other sort of lining in his hat. Besides, depending on the place of impact, there's only so much a helmet can do anyway. Just ask Juan Encarnacion, whose career ended when he was hit in the eye by a foul ball while on deck in 2007.
Various articles and reports about Cobb's injury were quick to point out that Happ's accident also occurred at Tropicana Field. Other than the fact it's a freaky coincidence, how is that relevant? It's not like the AstroTurf made the two line drives travel faster. Suggesting that the venue is the cause is simply ludicrous. It's just like the two perfect games in Seattle last season. A coincidence. Nothing more.
Some of the suggestions for what "needs to be done" are just as ridiculous. After the McCarthy injury last year, Tim McCarver concluded it was time for Major League Baseball to start requiring pitchers to wear helmets. In a career full if stupid comments, that one ranks right there near the top. What would you like them to require, Tim? The small helmets coaches wear? Batting helmets? Catcher's helmets? Then there are my favorites, the "protective lining" people. There are various designs and concepts for some sort of padded insert for players to put inside their hats. This technology hasn't been invented and would need to pass a series of safety tests before MLB even thought about putting it on the field. And who's to say how protective that would even be?
There's another element that's conveniently being forgotten in this discussion, too. You need the approval of the player's union before you can require anything. Especially something as big as this. And there are plenty of pitchers who would say "Thanks, but No Thanks." They know the risks, yet they choose to be pitchers anyway. If given the choice, I'm sure there are some that would opt for some sort of extra protection. But there are plenty more who would find it incredibly uncomfortable.
Mark Mulder and Doug Glanville debated this on "Baseball Tonight" on Saturday. Getting the former pitcher's perspective was important, and Mulder proved to be the voice of reason. He correctly pointed out that there's very little that can be done right now.
That I think is the most important thing to take away. This is a hot-button issue for a lot of people. But they aren't the ones who are actually out there on the field playing the game. Player safety is a very important concern. But doing something for the sake of doing it would defeat the purpose. It would be counterproductive. And, as trite as it might make me sound, player comfort should trump player safety in this situation.
It's probably inevitable that they'll come up with something that works and make it mandatory. But now isn't that time. We're probably years away from that. As unfortunate as these injuries are, they're a part of the game. And rushing some sort of protective headgear into the fold isn't going to change that.
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