Dear Joba, We understand. You want to look cool. We want to look cool too. You saw cool young guys coming up in the minors wearing flat billed ballcaps and and cocking them slightly to the side. The look caught on in the minors and across colleges and high schools across the country.
Hanley Ramirez, pictured above, wears a slight curve in his cap - but keeps it flat enough so that you can comfortably fit a pair of sunglasses underneath. Look at how cool and effortless this guy looks. Why wouldn't you want to emulate that style? Plus, you're a young phenom - if there is a time to do crazy stuff with your uniform - isn't this it?!
So Joba, you kept that bill flat - the straight off the shelf look. But there was a problem. When you wear your bill totally flat, something happened. It turned out that you look like one of the Mario Brothers.
Exhibit A.) Joba Exhibit B.) Mario
And then, Joba, you took it all one step further. You committed a crime against sports. You took a pre-curved spring training hat and decided, "Hey, you know what! This would look better if I tried to straighten it out like I do with the on the field caps." What ends up happening is that you look like a little leaguer who threw their cap in the washer and dryer for too long.
For the love of all things, holy, Joba. Just let the spring training hat be. If a hat is pre-curved, it is designed to look that way. Trying to straighten it out makes you look absurd. Look, I don't love the spring training cap design either, but as a pitcher - you don't even have to worry about the sunglasses issue.
We've come around a little to the straight bill look, but we still think and absolutely straight bill makes you look a bit cartoonish. Throw a subtle curve in there and wear it with your favorite sunglasses instead.
