Let's Create a Hard Hat Area on MLB Fields

The dugout should have a net or shield or whatever. Call me Captain Wuss. That's fine. There's an inherent risk in a sport, that much is true. The pitcher taking a ball to the face, a WR getting decimated over the middle, it is an accepted risk of participation. But something like a ball in the dugout that can be prevented with 100% certainty by spending a few thousand dollars? Not doing that is negligent. 

18 hours ago, homer said:

The thing is, if that didn't hit Adames it would have drilled the wall directly behind him. So someone NOT taking a risk by standing at the railing could have potentially gotten smoked. 

That's why you raise the height of the screened rail by the foot or so it would need to be to prevent anything hit hard flying into the dugout (or you lower the front portion of the dugout enough for players and coach sitting at the rail are completely below it with a line of sight through the screen - some other ballpark dugouts are set up that way).  If a player is sitting on the dugout bench, their head sits below the yellow Sargento ad line running across the wall.  Any hard hit ball that would scream over the existing rail would hit the back wall probably 2-3 feet over a player's head in that scenario until the ball hit the wall, lost a ton of force, and started ricocheting around at a speed that could still hurt like heck but not be potentially life-altering if it does wind up hitting someone.  The guy in blue is standing up in this photo - even he'd be well clear of any line drive going over the rail and into the dugout...although he could also really use a closed swing gate along the rail, too.

And there were exactly zero players/coaches sitting or even walking in the dugout behind Adames or any of the Brewers hanging over the rail to potentially get smoked had that ball missed Adames' temple.  I'd have more consideration for guys up there if the dugout below was cramped/full, but it was literally empty and close to half the uniformed roster spends most of the game in the bullpen, not the dugout.

I get that players make their own decisions on how to avoid the risk of injuries, hopefully seeing how bad things could have wound up had that foul ball hit Adames an inch or so closer to his eyesocket will lead to them changing where they spend time watching the game when they aren't on the field.

Adding to this - the area of the dugout rail where Adames (and other players/coaches congregate) when watching the game is pretty much the same distance from home plate as the pitchers mound is, maybe 5 feet further back.  Pitchers get smoked on comebackers and hitters get drilled by pitches they don't have time to react to when they're actually on the field during game action.

Just not a smart idea to drape yourself over the railing there, let alone do so while a pitch is happening and not be paying attention to it.  Not singling Adames out, as many players/coaches do the same thing.

On 5/31/2023 at 9:10 AM, jerichoholicninja said:

There are seats built in the dugouts right next to the railing. They are literally designed for people to sit that close.

This is part of the issue - that seat is designed for players to be able to see over the railing onto the field. 

I'd argue that players need to see what is going on.  Perhaps they can pick up on pitchers tendencies and/or tipping pitches, what runners do before trying to steal, defensive alignments, etc.  But they certainly want to see what is going on.  In the dugout the fencing/netting makes it hard to see details.  Thus why they stick their head over the top.

The solution is to make the railing higher and replace the netting with plexiglass.  Plexiglass works for hockey pucks that are coming at 100mpg; it can work for baseballs AND give players the ability to clearly see what's going on..