As protection for little league ball players becomes more and more common, the youth chest protector shirts, chest sternum shirts, padded chest shirts, etc are perhaps one of the most popular purchases by parents and with good reason. They’re most popular for baseball, softball, and lacrosse; sports where hard, direct hits to the chest with a ball are most likely to occur.  Although “experts” say there is no evidence that any chest protector currently sold online and in stores reduces the risk of commotio cordis in young athletes, they have to be better than nothing, right?  There are several vendors of youth chest protection shirts and padded shirts such as EvoShield chest protection, G-Form, Rawlings, McDavid, Shock Doctor* and more. All of them have slightly different characteristics with the same goal in mind - protect the kids.

It’s terrifying to think your child may ever get seriously hurt while playing a sport that they love. Nothing is 100% safe. But for kids that play ball, a heart guard / padded chest protector shirt might make a difference.  As we were pondering this… it brought up an obvious question (or perhaps not-so-obvious). In the realm protecting our kids from serious injury, the chest protection shirts and heart guards are mostly for Defense, and do little to nothing for protecting kids at the plate when up to bat.  What about offense? 

"Ask yourself, which one is more likely to occur: getting hit by a ball in the chest on defense, or taking a 50 mph fastball to the kidney and lower spine area on offense when standing in the batter's box? "

Obviously if you are pitching, the odds of a chest hit increases, but if you have been in or around baseball for more than a few weeks, you know kids in the 8-14 year old range get hit by pitches ALL the time!  Sometimes they are hit in the leg or arm but many times it’s the side or back.  EvoShield, G-Form, Easton, Nike and other vendors make some nice elbow guards and foot guards, but when a kid leaves the game with one of these 

… it’s too much.   And getting hit in the lower spine is no joke. 

THIS is why we created the PitchGuard. One of the best features is not only the protection itself, but it only needs to be worn while batting, so there is no need to wear it under the jersey.  This offers several advantages: 

1. We don’t have to cut corners on the protection aspect.  When you are forced to wear these things under your jersey, the protection integrity has to be compromised at least a small amount, otherwise it would be way too hot… which brings me to the next advantage.

2. It doesn’t contribute to heat exhaustion.  The baseball jerseys by themselves are hot enough on those 90+ degree days.

3. You don’t have to worry about finding a perfect fitting shirt.  Let’s face it, kids grow quickly and many times they are in-between sizes.  The PitchGuard comes in 2 sizes and will cover the kidneys and lower spine of most 8-12 year olds.

One of the BIGGEST advantages outside of the batter protection itself, is it gives the Parents peace of mind and it also gives the player the confidence they need while standing in the batter's box.  When you see that 11 year old on the mound that looks 16, and they’re throwing 55-60 mph with very little control, the PitchGuard steps up to the plate with them.  Check it out.

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