MLB Launches New Look BP Jerseys

Anyone who’s ever gone to a Major League Baseball game has likely watched the pre-game batting practice, nine-times-out-of-ten you’re watching the visiting team out there warming up: hitting in the cage, shagging flies, playing catch, stretching, or sometimes just standing around having a chat.

If you’re one of us uniform folk you’ll have immediately noticed the batting practice gear the players wear out there, it’s been one the league’s “outside-the-box” creative outlets in recent years. It’s not uncommon for teams to really focus on their secondary or brighter team colours with the practice look.

Lately however, it seems as though players are out there wearing hoodies, or the thin jackets over their batting practice jerseys; as a fan or a photographer trying to figure out just who the heck you’re looking at it, you can imagine how having names and numbers covered up can be a bit of an annoyance.

Well let me introduce you to Majestic’s new batting practice jersey. This jersey replaces the existing batting practice jersey program, those short sleeve button-ups are history.

Now we have a half-sleeve which gives more of the light jacket feel players get versus the traditional B.P. cut, ideally giving teams a more uniform look while they’re out doing their pre-game routine and also allowing fans to know who’s who. This potentially eliminates the temptation by the player to grab their jacket or hoodie instead when they head on out to the field before the game.

The jersey, officially titled the “Batting Practice Cool Base Player Trainer Jersey” doesn’t have any buttons up the front resulting in a look closer to a guy wearing a shirt with his sleeves rolled back and team logos are on the front styled as they would be on a typical jersey. In addition to the longer sleeves, players are now wearing numbers on their arms across the league, and unlike the B.P. jerseys before most teams don’t have a name OR number on the back (although some, such as the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves have both).

Atlanta players wearing batting practice jerseys before a game in 2015 (Photo: © Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)

Some of these new team jerseys are already available for sale on the MLB.com Shop, a good way to see most of the new designs. There’s still a sizeable chunk of the league however that has nothing up on that site.

These jerseys will not be worn for Spring Training, this is a regular season pre-game design only.