Alex Torres of the San Diego Padres became the first Major League Baseball player to wear a new protective cap during a game Saturday when he donned the padded hat to face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Torres entered the game as a relief pitcher and debuted the isoBlox cap, which uses "plastic injection molded polymers combined with a foam substrate" to minimize impact should a baseball come whizzing 95 mph toward a player's head.
Torres said he was inspired to wear the protective covering after witnessing his then-Tampa Bay Rays teammate Alex Cobb get nailed with a line drive last year.
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"I was in the bullpen and was in shock, I was in shock,"
Torres told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" in a phone interview Sunday. "I was scared for a couple of minutes and hoped God would give a good sign — there was no stirring and I was hoping Alex was OK and would show signs of life."
Cobb was lucky and sustained only a minor concussion but the close encounter got Torres thinking about his safety as an MLB pitcher.
"I'm just trying to protect myself, my life, and to see my kids grow up," he said. "I don't want to wait for something to happen."
Bigger and bulkier than the average baseball hat, the protective lid looks a little odd, which has led to some ribbing.
But Padres' head athletic trainer Todd Hutcheson said he hope to "desensitize" players to the new hat.
"Guys were hoarse laughing and saying 'Look, hey, super Mario,'" he told ESPN. "[But] as hard as balls are being hit now, if guys can protect themselves, I don't care what it looks like."
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