Alex Torres, San Diego Padres Pitcher, First Player To Use Protective Cap During Game

The San Diego Padres reliever, Alex Torres, became the first pitcher to wear a protective cap during the eight inning of Saturday night’s game against the Dodgers. The 26-year-old left-hander sported the newly approved pitching headgear that looks like an overstuffed baseball cap. "It's a good idea they make this kind of hat to protect my head," Torres said. "You want to protect life. I don't have a kid yet, but I want to see my kid grow up."

The idea for the protective cap came after pitcher Brandon McCarthy was struck in the head by a line drive and suffered life-threatening brain injuries on September 5, 2012 on the mound for the Oakland A’s. He has since recovered and is now pitching for Arizona. But what really marked Torres and prompted him to wear the protective cap was seeing his then-Tampa Bay teammate Alex Cobb get struck in the head by another line drive.

"I came in after Alex Cobb was hit in the head," Torres told CNN. "That's really an impression to me, how his head sounded from the bullpen. That was really bad. I was shaking. 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' I'm glad he's alive." The headgear, officially called IsoBLOX Protective Caps, is a "breakthrough technology to protect Major League Baseball pitchers from line drive come-backers," according to the manufacturer, 4Licensing Corporation.

"The cap is fitted with uniquely-formulated protective plates that use a combination of dispersion and absorption techniques to diffuse energy upon impact with a high-velocity object," the IsoBLOX website says. "Under rigorous testing simulating MLB line drives, the isoBLOX® cap demonstrated protection at speeds up to 90 mph in the front and front boss impact locations and 85 mph on the side impact location."

The caps have been available since January, and pitchers were encouraged to use it during spring training, however, it’s not mandatory. "It could save our lives, if someone hits a ball to your head," Torres said. "I get it for free, so I'm just gonna use it to see how it feels." He continued, "The difference between how this hat and the regular hat feels isn't much," Torres said. "I tried it before using it in the game, playing catch. It doesn't feel really bad. It doesn't feel like how it looks on my head."