MLB catcher talks jiu-jitsu, combat sports, and protecting your nuts

Former major leaguer John Baker is relatively new to jiu jitsu, but he’s absolutely sure of one thing: it’s far more dangerous to be a baseball catcher than to train jiu jitsu.

At least when it comes to taking one in the nuts.

I can’t even begin to estimate the number of times I’ve been hit in the cup. As a catcher, during my professional career, it was a daily occurrence. He says.

Daily—and his professional career lasted more than 11 years.

Foul balls, getting in front of grounders…baseball is rife with opportunity to get nailed in the nuts, according to Baker. 

Yet groin protection isn’t something ball players tend to talk about, certainly not in the training room Baker says. If someone took a really bad shot, and was hurting the next day it wasn’t like: Okay, now here’s the best cup. It was: You’ll feel better in a couple of days.

That may be about to change, because now Baker’s working for the Chicago Cubs as a baseball operations assistant. It’s his job to do whatever it takes to help players be their best.

He’s also training in jiu-jitsu, which he loves, and that has introduced him to a whole new world of protective gear.

In November, 2015, Baker got the Diamond MMA system, both the shorts and athletic cup. 

The original idea was for Baker to compare the Nutty Buddy cup to Diamond’s gear. 

According to Baker there’s no comparison, because Diamond’s product does what used to take shorts, two jock straps, a cup and sliding shorts. It keeps the cup in place and firm against the parts that need protection.

Every time a ball hits the cup, the cup hits your… 

Yeah. Nobody wants that. Which is why Baker came up with the complicated layering system. Diamond, he says, replaces the need for his do-it-yourself version of groin protection.

Baker says the gear would have been great in 2002—when he was drafted by the Oakland Athletics.

Not just because of the continuous ball-on-cup action. 

Baker points out that a player can take all the time he needs to recover, and wait for the crowds to cheer when he does.

But the pain might cause him to be hesitant later in the game, less willing to get in front of a ball that could be traveling at 90 or 100 m.p.h. (Washington National’s pitcher, Stephen Strasburg, averaged 97 m.p.h. in 2012.)

Fast forward from 2002 through a professional career where Baker played for the Miami Marlins, the San Diego Padres and the Cubs. 

At the time of the interview, he was headed to his first spring training in his new role. 

Ironically, he says, advice about equipment is one of the things we do.

Not just the tools of ignorance, (because, really, how smart is it to play a position that require shin guards, a mask, and a chest protector?) but gloves, cups, jockstraps—everything. 

Just like I would offer advice about a glove company that I like…after using the Diamond system…I will recommend (it) to everybody who comes with this organization.

At least they should give the gear a try.

This is the highest level in the world. We’re going to actually try and win the World Series. And maybe that one extra nut shot prevents us from making the final play in the game.

We could have taken care of that if we’d just gone through a little trial in spring training.