Why do MLB baseball players wear their shinguards twisted?

Question

I have seen some MLB players recently who wear small shin guards when batting but twist them so the actual guard is facing towards the plate even when they are swinging, not towards the pitcher, which offers no protection if you get hit. Why do they do this?

Answer 1

its to gaurd the inside part of the shin from foul balls.  a foul ball can break the ankle/foot or leave deep bone bruises that last for months.

Answer 2

foul balls those really hurt of your ankle or shins.trust me i hit my ankle 2 and been on the floor.lol thats why they have shin guards....

Answer 3

They might feel their most they are hit more there by a foul ball.

Which can really hurt.

or

They might be recovery from injury in that area.

Answer 4

Hmm... I haven't really payed attention to this. Thanks fozzy for the answer.

Answer 5

A lot of them are not really wearing them to protect themselves from getting hit by a pitch (they can usually get out of the way if that's the case).

Most of them wear them as protection against fouling a ball off of their leg

Answer 6

They wear a shin protector to protect themselves from foul balls. It's a lot more likely for a foul ball to hit their shin than a pitch, plus the force of the bat is much more than the force of a pitch.

Answer 7

Depends on the angle of the body part when they impact the ball and foul it off onto their body.  If their leg is extended, but angled, they might fould it off the side of their leg.

Answer 8

It's more likely they are going to get hit in the shins from fouling the ball off the bat then they are going to get hit in the shins by the pitcher.  Many times I've seen balls either come right off the bat and into the shins, or the ball takes a bounce off the plate and right into the shins.