Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in favor of new protective baseball cap

It will not be fashionable, though that’s hardly the point. At least hopefully.

But pitchers now have a decision to make: to wear a padded baseball cap or not?

That’s an issue each pitcher will now have to determine for himself, after major league baseball Tuesday approved a protective cap.

Two-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw said he’s tried the cap and is in favor of its use.

“It still looks a little like you’re wearing a train conductor’s hat out there, but it’ll be worth it,” Kershaw said on MLB Network’s Hot Stove show

Arizona’s Brandon McCarthy, who was struck on the head by a line drive and had life-threatening brain injuries in 2012, said he will not wear the new headgear because it’s too big and too hot.

Kershaw, however, is open to giving the new cap a try. He has used a prototype.

“I’ve thrown with it. You don’t look very cool, I’ll be honest,” he said.

“But technology is unbelievable and it really doesn’t feel that much different once you get used to it. Obviously, it would be a change. We wouldn’t look the same as everybody else, but if you’re that one guy who gets hit what seems like every year, there’s that chance out there. I’m definitely not opposed to it. I think it’d take a lot of getting used to. I think it’s a great thing and a step in the right direction, for sure.”

Kershaw said baseball could require minor leaguers to wear the cap, easing its way into the big leagues.