Brandon McCarthy, pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, is on the mound pitching to Erick Aybar. He gets the sign and delivers the pitch. Erick connects perfectly, driving it right back at the mound. Brandon can’t get out of the way, and gets hit in the head by the line drive. He’s down and severely injured.
Brandon is an actual MLB pitcher who had this happen to him last year. He received an epidural hemorrhage, along with a brain contusion and a skull fracture. All of which are life-threatening injuries. It took two hours of immediate surgery to slow down the bleeding and somewhat stabilize him. There was still a very possible chance of him dying. This could all have been avoided if the baseball association took protective measures. These measures include mandating pitchers to wear a protective mask. This mask would have cushioned the blow and kept this scenario from occurring.
Baseball is a sport becoming increasingly dangerous with the enhancement in a bat’s power. Since there is an increase in power, there should also be an equal increase in protection. Especially for the pitchers who are left wide open for anything to happen. This should be the main focus of the leaders of the baseball association. They should always be focused on protecting those that play their sport.

Pitchers are only sixty feet six inches from home plate. As of now their only protection is the glove on their hand. This glove will help a little, but not enough. Don’t forget that a baseball is hard and solid, and it at times moves ninety to one hundred miles per hour. This speed doesn’t give a pitcher enough time to react. It has been calculated that if the baseball is moving 95 mph directly back at the mound, a pitcher only has .434 seconds to react. It would be rare for someone to either catch or avoid that.

Today many sports have been trying to become safer. Kids are starting to be required to take concussion tests. This means that head injuries are trying to be monitored better and more importantly avoided. By giving facemasks to pitchers, many head injuries could be avoided. This could supply better protection during the game, and make people feel safer about playing it.

Most sports have decided to make players wear helmets. If they are doing it, then baseball pitchers should too. For instance in lacrosse, all players must wear a helmet. Baseballs and lacrosse balls both weigh around five ounces and move at very high speed. They both can create a crushing blow and do an extreme amount of damage. So tell me why pitchers don’t wear helmets, but lacrosse players do.

Head injuries are also increasing rapidly in sports like baseball. In 2009 it was calculated that 38,394 head injuries were caused in baseball and softball. Not all of these were to pitchers specifically, but a large number of them were. By giving masks to pitchers, this number could drastically decrease.

Now I feel as a pitcher, that this could drastically change the game. It will help all pitchers including myself fell safer and more confident on the mound. It will keep many preventable injuries from happening and get more people to play the game.
Head injuries are life threatening, and should be avoided as much as possible. The baseball association should take the initiative and try to introduce masks to pitchers. This could make the game much safer, and incidents like those to Brandon McCarthy could be totally eliminated to such a great sport.