I pulled a Suzuki

[kylehutson]

Don't worry, this is the extent of comparing my talent level with Kurt Suzuki.

This is what I'm referencing:

So last night I was in a high school varsity game. No super-stars on the team, I'm guessing pitches were in the low to mid 70's. Fast ball comes in high, the catcher completely whiffs it, and the ball hits my F3 Defender v2 right about in the same place as it does Suzuki in the video from the above link (just below the eye opening, and almost dead-center left-to-right). And darn if I don't have an abrasion and a bruise right where he did.

Today I got my mask back out and I think I figured out why. The back of the bracket the springs are attached to is right behind the stitching of the padding, so there's essentially no padding there. It seems like if the mask gets torqued downward, the brace can hit your chin with very little padding. Don't get me wrong, if I was wearing my old Diamond with the memory-foam pads, I'd have probably had a concussion, but it's still frustrating that I got hurt wearing what should be the best thing on the market.

Here are some photos I just took

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPAODLBoWknDserLMt52N7iiYM07uIMWYrTbd19sB2WxDZbF5r9PMEl1p0sbJGNYQ?key=aWhPUXdBWVhFVFRhWUJpNGVweW5YT3dLazIxZkN3 

1) The bruise and abrasion on my chin

2) How the mask sits on my face (yes, I know the straps are twisted, I was just trying to show the positioning

3) A close-up of the brace and the padding (or lack thereof) in that location.

[blue23ll]

Didn't your mother tell you to quit pulling your Suzuki?

[kylehutson]

1 hour ago, blue23ll said:

Didn't your mother tell you to quit pulling your Suzuki?

She tried, but I'm not a very good listener

[Thatsnotyou]

V1 or V2? If V1, I’m curious if this is one of the things they tried to address with V2. I will have to pull out my V2 and look at it. 

[Mister B]

I think the V2 brought the springs under the chin, while the v1 had them on the cheeks. 

I would guess, the issue come with this move. 

[MadMax]

No, both the V1 and V2 have the spring bracket under the chin. The V1 has four, oriented at the four cardinal points like a + ... whereas the V2 has only three, in a Y shape. @kylehutson has a V2.

Supposedly, the latest chin pad, in use by the MLB guys (Suzuki being the first recipient), has the newest pad structure to address that. You may need to contact Force3 about that.

[Thunderheads]

3 hours ago, MadMax said:

No, both the V1 and V2 have the spring bracket under the chin. The V1 has four, oriented at the four cardinal points like a + ... whereas the V2 has only three, in a Y shape. @kylehutson has a V2.

Supposedly, the latest chin pad, in use by the MLB guys (Suzuki being the first recipient), has the newest pad structure to address that. You may need to contact Force3 about that.

@gnhbua93 .... well?  You know everything about F3, ...what's the scoop?

[BT_Blue]

8 hours ago, Thunderheads said:

@gnhbua93 .... well?  You know everything about F3, ...what's the scoop?

Good call about contacting him... we all know he has stock in them. lol

[scrounge]

Another question on the F3....the padding right below the bottom of the springs (such that there is any) is very thin. Is that part in contact with the face? Say a ball hits the chin square and fully depresses the springs....would that spring and the very thin padding there hit the face? If so, what good does all the other padding do?

[Thatsnotyou]

It's not in contact with the face on mine. It appears just below the chin on @kylehutson. Maybe it was more of a scrape? Or maybe the mask went upwards?

[kylehutson]

What I was trying to say in my OP, is that I *think* the mask rotated (away from the forehead, toward the chin), because my chin isn't normally in contact with the brace. That would push the brace up-and-in toward the chin.

More than anything else, I was completely surprised - both catchers had been doing great, and I expected him to get a glove on it. Suddenly I realized my mask was hit. Then it was a second or two and I thought. "Ouch, my chin hurts. Where the heck did that come from? I shouldn't be hurt from a dead-on hit with this mask."

[MadMax]

5 hours ago, scrounge said:

Another question on the F3....the padding right below the bottom of the springs (such that there is any) is very thin. Is that part in contact with the face? Say a ball hits the chin square and fully depresses the springs....would that spring and the very thin padding there hit the face? If so, what good does all the other padding do?

Do you know what a "boxer's split" is, @scrounge ? Where the leather/fabric/vinyl of the boxing glove hits at such an angle against the face that it causes a rift or rupture of the skin? We wonder why boxers bleed facially when no blades or sharp objects are being used... well, this is why.

The leather pads are being abruptly shoved against the skin. On the mask side, that spring mount – carrying the energy of the ball impact – is driving the pad as a hard object. On the face side, your jaw bone (chin) is the other hard object. Both soft tissues compress, but because your skin and chin tissue is alive (at least, it should be), fluid (lymph, blood, etc.) rushes back to that spot to deal with that trauma. If the skin is momentarily weakened, the rebounding force (off the jawbone) will cause a rift, or split.

With Suzuki, a split occurred. With @kylehutson, a bruise was the result. Here's the thing to point out... that energy is tremendously localized, due to those springs absorbing it. While the upper half of the mask has two flanking spring mounts to channel that energy, the lower half only has the one... and it's centerline... and slightly lower than your lip. So, as Kyle pointed out, the mask rotates, or pivots. It's not driving the mask straight back, but instead, in an axis of rotation that takes it on a path more tangent to your chin...

... and there we have that angle that a boxer's split occurs.

[kylehutson]

@MadMax, I hadn't put together the "boxer's split" and what happened to me, but I think you're dead-on correct.

[eagle_12]

Reviving a semi-old post because I just ordered a F3 V2. 

 

When I put the mask on and do a hand compression of the lower spring I can feel the corner of the metal support hitting my chin. It in the area as the pics, and also where Kurt Suzuki got cut.  I do believe it’s that compression force being applied to a thinner skinned area with a hard object (bone) behind it that causes that laceration. 

Anyone with the F3 added anything in that area to maybe lessen the sharpness hitting the face?  I’m thinking of adding a small piece of adhesive foam somehow between the pad and support.  

Want to lessen my chances of needing stitches during the middle of a game.