New Version of the All-Star HSM???

[Rock Bottom]

I saw this in the Cubs/Pirates game yesterday - is this a new All-Star helmet???  It sure looks different than the MVP4000/2500.

I sure hope they go back to the larger sizing that went up to 7-3/4 as opposed to the current 7-1/2!  Brad or Stan Jurga - if you're listening - PLEASE!

Maybe this why the MVP4000 is in low stock many places.  

 

[Rock Bottom]

And here is a better look at the top of the helmet:

[MadMax]

That likely is the forthcoming MVP4000 / MVP5000(?). It’s even more aggressively vectored than its predecessor, which itself set the bar real, real, real high for geometric protection. I’m betting that this advanced vectoring was prompted by Wilson’s improvements made in its HSM, the Pro Stock, to further allow catchers to operate and throw unencumbered and unhindered. 

Professional catchers DO NOT shed their HSMs prior to or during throwing!!! They actually leave them on the majority of the time. So, there is less of a need to have a large, wide neck aperture. 

It would also appear that All-Star is borrowing a page from the football helmet manufacturers recipe book, especially considering venting, structural reinforcement, and the use of buttressed and floating dampening panels to mitigate concussive impacts. 

Does that mean the MVP2500 will go away? I don’t think so. I think All-Star will likely continue it as an amateur / value HSM to replace the 2200-2300 models. But in terms of all the customizable bells & whistles, in the wide spectrum of colors and finishes? This new one is where it’s headed.

Is this new one ideal or stylized for umpires? Likely not, I’m afraid. That narrow neck aperture will already pose a problem for a number of umpires, especially with how frequent we are schooled / directed / prompted / expected to take the mask off to satisfy the impression that we can adjudge a play better without it (debatable). But then again, I don’t blame All-Star in the slightest. Who is their predominant market? Catchers. 

What has “your / our” (umpires) Official MLB Supplier done for us lately??! 🤨

[Rock Bottom]

@MadMax I wonder if they have any updates planned for their FM4000Mag, seeing that it's what, at least 5 years old now.  Any thoughts (rumors?) on that?  I have two FM4000 steel that I'm happy with, but I'm always interested in looking for the next big thing. (I keep debating getting the mag, but for 0.2 ounces I just can't convince myself it's worth it, especially since I added the mag pads.) But once one of these bend I'm upgrading to the mag, or maybe All-Star's next mask.  (Maybe I can run over these with my car like All-Star did to the mag with their truck - check their Facebook page if anyone missed it.)

[MadMax]

On 4/13/2022 at 3:12 PM, Rock Bottom said:

I wonder if they have any updates planned for their FM4000Mag, seeing that it's what, at least 5 years old now.  Any thoughts (rumors?) on that?

We have to cut the companies (except Wilson) a bit of slack due to the SH*#show fiasco of 2020. Things still aren't back to any degree of normalcy in any industry, up and down their supply, production, and delivery chains. 

It's extremely difficult to roll out a new product on schedule when the planned and projected phasing out of the product it's replacing has been upset by at least a full year, in this manner. 

I'd like to see the FM4000 Magnesium evolve, but I don't see it being replaced. Too much effort and resources were put into achieving not only that geometric shape you see, but the die-casting and fusing process that resulted in the mask itself. Could it benefit from having a redesigned (read: fuller, broader) extended chin guard? Yes. Could it stand to be a bit fuller in the forehead region? Sure. Could the same integrity be achieved with shallower (read: not as deep from outside to inside) bars? Possibly. These are all things that could be tried. @Razzer and I have been in long talks about it (as gear geeks tend to do). 

Certainly, it could use some attention given to its peripheral accessories. The forehead LUC pad really, really needs to be made with the same reinforcing plate the jaw pad has. All-Star could once again offer a proper, styled-to-match (or complement) dangling throat guard ala Force3. Those shoehorn-shaped ones that everyone else in North America offers are hideous. The visor, while gorgeous, could stand to be offered in a silver-smoke or gold tint as an option to chrome-blue. 

What caught my attention, though, was the sheer number of FM4000 and FM25 hollow steels in the Minor League camps I was working and observing in. It makes sense – they're protective enough to issue en masse to Rookie thru AA prospects prior to the season actually starting or the catcher being signed to his own contract that may have an equipment endorsement in it. I saw a few Nike Icon Ti's, and a lone Mizuno, and several F2's shared that they would be wearing a Force3 Defender when in actual games... but the overwhelming majority of masks during the sessions and intrasquad games I worked were All-Star MVP2500's, FM4000 steels and FM25's. 

I think the FM25-Titanium is going to be phased out.