Hunter W leaves game

[boyinr 311]

After being hit in the mask with a warm up pitch in the 6th inning umpire Hunter W. had to leave the game.  U2 had to get the gear on.  

[BrianC14 426]

Includes GIF of the warmup pitch.

http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2017/08/umpire_hunter_wendelstedt_leav.html

 

[Gfoley4 85]

That's an all-star mask, right? I was just noticing an inning before how good it looked, then bang. 

[MadMax 1,954]

Yeeaaahhh, eeeeehhhh (grimacing sigh), that's the new vaunted All-Star FM4000Mag magnesium alloy mask. A couple of observations:

• Hunter set up POP, directly behind catcher, and that pitch hit him, unaltered, center of the mask.
• We have no way of knowing from the video what pads Hunter is using on the FM4000, because I can tell you from experience, if using Team Wendy's, they don't have as much loft as the native All-Star LUC's. The Wilson MemFoams have even less loft, and might be what he's using, considering this obsession commitment the MLBU has to showing the W on all gear.
• I have a hunch that perhaps Hunter's pain is due to the cap bill hammering against his skull. The FM4000 is a superbly designed mask... for a catcher. Catchers wear their helmets (aka "skullcaps") backwards, and the hard shell takes some of the force while a mere fabric cap isn't going to do anything to aid. Due to the FM4000's curved design, there isn't a lot of standoff distance from mask to forehead within which to fit anything more than a 2", 4-stitch brim... and even then, the mask bars are touching the brim of the cap. The bars first carry that force, and transfer it to the next thing touching them... in this case, the hat brim.
• I think regardless of the mask, Hunter was coming out of the game. They are top-tier, tenured professionals – no sense in risking anything, no shame in taking a game off just to be safe.

Again, the FM4000 is an exceptionally well-designed mask, centerpoint to a protective system. This system, though, is designed primarily for a catcher. When are we going to have a company step forward and committ to designs for an umpire?

[BrianC14 426]

17 hours ago, MadMax said:

Yeeaaahhh, eeeeehhhh (grimacing sigh), that's the new vaunted All-Star FM4000Mag magnesium alloy mask. A couple of observations:

• Hunter set up POP, directly behind catcher, and that pitch hit him, unaltered, center of the mask.
• We have no way of knowing from the video what pads Hunter is using on the FM4000, because I can tell you from experience, if using Team Wendy's, they don't have as much loft as the native All-Star LUC's. The Wilson MemFoams have even less loft, and might be what he's using, considering this obsession commitment the MLBU has to showing the W on all gear.
• I have a hunch that perhaps Hunter's pain is due to the cap bill hammering against his skull. The FM4000 is a superbly designed mask... for a catcher. Catchers wear their helmets (aka "skullcaps") backwards, and the hard shell takes some of the force while a mere fabric cap isn't going to do anything to aid. Due to the FM4000's curved design, there isn't a lot of standoff distance from mask to forehead within which to fit anything more than a 2", 4-stitch brim... and even then, the mask bars are touching the brim of the cap. The bars first carry that force, and transfer it to the next thing touching them... in this case, the hat brim.
• I think regardless of the mask, Hunter was coming out of the game. They are top-tier, tenured professionals – no sense in risking anything, no shame in taking a game off just to be safe.

Again, the FM4000 is an exceptionally well-designed mask, centerpoint to a protective system. This system, though, is designed primarily for a catcher. When are we going to have a company step forward and committ to designs for an umpire?

Re: boldface highlight:  agreed, though he stayed in and finished the inning (one more batter, I believe), but that may also be due to the fact that concussion symptoms are often a bit delayed.   He may have felt good to go after the trainer made his check on him, and then within a few more minutes,.... not so much.   But yes, no sense hanging around and adding to the risk.

And just my $0.02 on this, describing the warm up pitch as "errant"....   I didn't think it was all that far off the mark (that's why they get warm-up pitches, right?) but check out how late F2 gets his mitt up there.   Lazy.