Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka to Wear Hard-Shell Cap After Head Injury Recovery

New York Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka will wear a hard-shell hat insert after he suffered a concussion July 4, per William Weinbaum of ESPN. 

"There really wasn't any discomfort when I initially tried it, so I decided to use it during live BP," he said. "It really didn't bother me there either, so I like these particular cap inserts."

Tanaka was hit by a 112 mph line drive off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton during the team's first summer workout. He was placed in the league's concussion protocol and after 10 days showed no lingering symptoms.  

Per Weinbaum, Tanaka could pitch as soon as July 31, though he was not on the team's Opening Day roster for Thursday's matchup with the Washington Nationals. 

"I thought he was strong. Fastball had life to it," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Tanaka threw 20 batting practice pitches Tuesday, per the Associated Press. 

"If everything comes out OK, I should be ready to go," Tanaka added at the time about making his first start July 31.

Safer Sports Technologies founder and CEO Matt Meier told Weinbaum that Tanaka's carbon-fiber cap insert was "handmade, reinforced with Kevlar, have polyurethane-based padding, weigh about 1.2 ounces and measure about 7.5 inches in length, 4 inches in height and 0.195 inches in thickness."

Previous protective headwear options sanctioned by Major League Baseball were much larger.

"I only knew about the large bulky ones," Tanaka said. "I never thought of wearing that as I thought it would affect my performance on the mound."

"I'm sure pitchers have their preference for using head protection, but as I said earlier, there wasn't much discomfort for the one that I used, so I would probably recommend these ones to other pitchers who may be interested," he added.    

Tanaka, 31, went 11-9 last season with a 4.45 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 149 strikeouts in 182 innings. He's expected to join superstar Gerrit Cole and James Paxton atop the team's rotation.