UmpAK Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 Hello, Can anyone identify what chest protector Willie Traynor was wearing yesterday in his first appearance as a PU in the MLB? Thank you in advance.
dumbdumb Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 no, but pretty quick rise through th ranks. last year was first year in trips and then Arizona fall league assignment, and now MLB call up assignment before the halfway point of the year. nice.
wolfe_man Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 It's hard to say with this little of information. However, only a few use gray as the main color. The shade of grey seems off for a Power in my opinion and I highly doubt that he's wearing a Diamond CP, so that leaves me with a Douglas with black padding or a Wilson Platinum. If I look closely at the shoulders, there is a gap plate and it's oval-shaped which tends to make me lean towards Wilson as Douglas uses a more flat-shaped gap cover plate. Finally, the actual bicep/shoulder plate appears to have a slight bump on them like both Wilson and Riddell use, but I lean towards the Platinum here as a used Riddell Power CP is a unicorn worth $700+ and that's a lot of money for an MiLB guy to spend. Final guess: Wilson Platinum with billow pad removed
JSam21 Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 I'm reaching out to someone on his crew... I'll get an answer. Edit- It is indeed a platinum. 2 3
834k3r Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 4 hours ago, wolfe_man said: It's hard to say with this little of information. However, only a few use gray as the main color. The shade of grey seems off for a Power in my opinion and I highly doubt that he's wearing a Diamond CP, so that leaves me with a Douglas with black padding or a Wilson Platinum. If I look closely at the shoulders, there is a gap plate and it's oval-shaped which tends to make me lean towards Wilson as Douglas uses a more flat-shaped gap cover plate. Finally, the actual bicep/shoulder plate appears to have a slight bump on them like both Wilson and Riddell use, but I lean towards the Platinum here as a used Riddell Power CP is a unicorn worth $700+ and that's a lot of money for an MiLB guy to spend. Final guess: Wilson Platinum with billow pad removed 1
johnnyg08 Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 1 hour ago, JSam21 said: I'm reaching out to someone on his crew... I'll get an answer. Edit- It is indeed a platinum. That hard-hitting UE content! Nice work @JSam21 2
FranklinT Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 5 hours ago, wolfe_man said: It's hard to say with this little of information. However, only a few use gray as the main color. The shade of grey seems off for a Power in my opinion and I highly doubt that he's wearing a Diamond CP, so that leaves me with a Douglas with black padding or a Wilson Platinum. If I look closely at the shoulders, there is a gap plate and it's oval-shaped which tends to make me lean towards Wilson as Douglas uses a more flat-shaped gap cover plate. Finally, the actual bicep/shoulder plate appears to have a slight bump on them like both Wilson and Riddell use, but I lean towards the Platinum here as a used Riddell Power CP is a unicorn worth $700+ and that's a lot of money for an MiLB guy to spend. Final guess: Wilson Platinum with billow pad removed Looks like a Power to me. The Platinum is bulkier than that IMO.
UmpAK Posted June 10 Author Report Posted June 10 2 hours ago, FranklinT said: Looks like a Power to me. The Platinum is bulkier than that IMO. That was my initial thought as well, the platinum is definitely way bulkier. He may have retrofitted.
johnnyg08 Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 4 hours ago, FranklinT said: Looks like a Power to me. The Platinum is bulkier than that IMO. @JSam21actually asked the crew and confirmed the Platinum.
MadMax Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 6 hours ago, FranklinT said: Looks like a Power to me. The Platinum is bulkier than that IMO. The Platinum isn’t / wasn’t a bad CP. It was always treated as the younger / less-important sibling of the Gold. It’s thinner at 13/16” than the Gold’s fat 1”. While the Gold uses that pathetic upholstery foam throughout, like a slab, the Platinum is actually divided into segments of open-cell (upholstery) foam and closed-cell foam. The shoulder pauldron is separate from the shoulder arch, connected by a pair of elastic splines, covered by an ailette (aka “gap protector”). This gives more mobility in the shoulder. Unlike the Gold (and other similar CPs), which connects the chest plate to the shoulder arch plates with flexible splines, the Platinum does them as one piece, without a gap or seam. Unfortunately, due to the plastic being cast in ABS (instead of HDPE), the weak harness equipped with the CP, and that it was shipped flat, the otherwise conforming shape of the Platinum was lost. Then, too, it was silver, not black – further distancing itself from the majority of the market. That billow pad was a purposeless frivolity, and when removed, actually improved the fit. Wilson actually did the Platinum a disservice, and by discontinuing it, further weakened its own purported “exclusive support” for umpires.
wolfe_man Posted June 11 Report Posted June 11 17 hours ago, UmpAK said: That was my initial thought as well, the platinum is definitely way bulkier. He may have retrofitted. FWIW, you can get the Platinum down to a very low profile with a heat gun and some time. Oh, and remove the stupid pillow off the front! Put a flex harness on there and it's a very nice functionable CP. Here's an old image, but giving you an idea of what you can do with one. I put Max's old XV next to it for comparison, because we all know how low profile those can get too. 1
wolfe_man Posted June 11 Report Posted June 11 22 hours ago, JSam21 said: I'm reaching out to someone on his crew... I'll get an answer. Edit- It is indeed a platinum. Did he mention what padding by chance? I'm guessing one of the newer retrofits from Michael. Or is it a TW? I only ask because the Platinum has grey padding originally and this one has black. Thanks! 1
JSam21 Posted June 11 Report Posted June 11 14 minutes ago, wolfe_man said: Did he mention what padding by chance? I'm guessing one of the newer retrofits from Michael. Or is it a TW? I only ask because the Platinum has grey padding originally and this one has black. Thanks! He did not. 1
DerekGDS Posted June 11 Report Posted June 11 (edited) @JSam21 got some bad info unfortunately. It's a TW Power. He took off the wing pads, gap plates and stickers are moved/removed for TV. Edited June 11 by DerekGDS grammar 2 2
FranklinT Posted June 11 Report Posted June 11 52 minutes ago, DerekGDS said: @JSam21 got some bad info unfortunately. It's a TW Power. He took of the wing pads and gap plates and stickers are moved/removed for TV. hubba hubba
JSam21 Posted June 12 Report Posted June 12 22 hours ago, DerekGDS said: @JSam21 got some bad info unfortunately. It's a TW Power. He took off the wing pads, gap plates and stickers are moved/removed for TV. Putting the blame squarely on his MLB crew member. lol 3
FranklinT Posted June 12 Report Posted June 12 More interesting about Willie is I saw a pic online of him displaying a student of the year plaque at Wendelstedt in 2019 - so he got to the show in 6 years? That seems crazy fast.
cgroom Posted June 12 Report Posted June 12 3 hours ago, FranklinT said: so he got to the show in 6 years? 2021 - 67 games in Single A (California League), 59 games in High A (South Atlantic League) 2022 - 137 games in Double A (Texas League) 2023 - 131 games in Double A (Eastern League) 2024 - 3 MLB Spring Training games, 149 games in Triple A and an unknown number (I just haven't collected) of games in the Arizona Fall League 2025 - MLB Spring Training, number 45 assigned, added to Call Up list and MLB regular season debut as well as being a Triple A Crew Chief 1
Velho Posted June 12 Report Posted June 12 40 minutes ago, cgroom said: 2021 - 67 games in Single A (California League), 59 games in High A (South Atlantic League) 2022 - 137 games in Double A (Texas League) 2023 - 131 games in Double A (Eastern League) 2024 - 3 MLB Spring Training games, 149 games in Triple A and an unknown number (I just haven't collected) of games in the Arizona Fall League 2025 - MLB Spring Training, number 45 assigned, added to Call Up list and MLB regular season debut as well as being a Triple A Crew Chief ... and does outreach free clinics in NorCal (not sure if he does other locations as well or not) and teaches at Wendlestedt (not the deciding factor in a call up but certainly helps) 1
tpatience Posted June 12 Report Posted June 12 40 minutes ago, Velho said: ... and does outreach free clinics in NorCal (not sure if he does other locations as well or not) and teaches at Wendlestedt (not the deciding factor in a call up but certainly helps) NorCal and then is the lead instructor at Malachis weekend camp in Compton, CA 2
dumbdumb Posted June 13 Report Posted June 13 7 hours ago, cgroom said: 2021 - 67 games in Single A (California League), 59 games in High A (South Atlantic League) 2022 - 137 games in Double A (Texas League) 2023 - 131 games in Double A (Eastern League) 2024 - 3 MLB Spring Training games, 149 games in Triple A and an unknown number (I just haven't collected) of games in the Arizona Fall League 2025 - MLB Spring Training, number 45 assigned, added to Call Up list and MLB regular season debut as well as being a Triple A Crew Chief stevetheump website is showing 2019 start in Northwest League Short A ( just like New York Penn League is) in 2019 which allowed/meant skipping rookie (ie Arizona) and Pioneer Leagues (rookie advanced league) and then 2020 in Midwest League. and for that 3 day MLB gig, he should have received (guessing) at least 1,000 per game and 500 per day expense/per diem money to help defray some of that chest protector initial cost. big difference in that $150 to $200 per game depending on seniority (26 games per month) and $65 per diem at AAA which is less than any of the weakest D1 divisions game fees $300-500, and are far less than about 800-1000 per game for the big 5 or big 3. 1
cgroom Posted June 13 Report Posted June 13 17 hours ago, dumbdumb said: stevetheump website is showing 2019 start in Northwest League Short A ( just like New York Penn League is) in 2019 which allowed/meant skipping rookie (ie Arizona) and Pioneer Leagues (rookie advanced league) and then 2020 in Midwest League. Ahh yeah. I don't think I've been capturing the leagues that were nuked after the COVID shutdown. I'll have to sort that out. 1
johnnyg08 Posted June 14 Report Posted June 14 On 6/12/2025 at 10:31 PM, dumbdumb said: stevetheump website is showing 2019 start in Northwest League Short A ( just like New York Penn League is) in 2019 which allowed/meant skipping rookie (ie Arizona) and Pioneer Leagues (rookie advanced league) and then 2020 in Midwest League. and for that 3 day MLB gig, he should have received (guessing) at least 1,000 per game and 500 per day expense/per diem money to help defray some of that chest protector initial cost. big difference in that $150 to $200 per game depending on seniority (26 games per month) and $65 per diem at AAA which is less than any of the weakest D1 divisions game fees $300-500, and are far less than about 800-1000 per game for the big 5 or big 3. They can sell the dream to kids. That's how they get away with it. They wash out and work D1 baseball and make decent money. 1
Dale-E-Llama Posted December 2 Report Posted December 2 FWIW, you can get the Platinum down to a very low profile with a heat gun and some time. Oh, and remove the stupid pillow off the front! Put a flex harness on there and it's a very nice functionable CP. Here's an old image, but giving you an idea of what you can do with one. I put Max's old XV next to it for comparison, because we all know how low profile those can get too.How did you remove that pillow? In the photo it looks like it was just stitched on? Box blade or seam ripper?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1
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