St. Louis — As soon as Jeremiah Raber saw the devastating injury to Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, he picked up the phone.
"In a sport like baseball when a foul tip or a high-speed fastball is coming at the groin at over 100 miles-per-hour a normal plastic cup will shatter," he said.
It's assumed that Molina's athletic cup didn't hold last weekend when a 102 mile-per-hour Jordan Hicks fastball tipped off Cubs slugger Kris Bryant's bat and into the catcher's groin.
Molina is now out at least a month after recovering from emergency surgery.
Although his gear appeared to have let him down, Raber is confident he has a product that wouldn't have.
"It's physically impossible to shatter," he said.
Raber started Nutshellz from his High Ridge, Missouri home five years ago. His product is an athletic groin protector made of Kevlar, carbon-fiber, Dyneema, among other materials, that, when put together, have been proven to stop a speeding bullet.
Raber, who already has athlete from the Indians and Orioles using his product, has offered the groin protector to the Cardinals.
"We've been contacted a lot lately by multiple professional sports teams. It's a shame that something hast to happen to these players to realize ... this so-called protection isn't holding up when it's supposed to," he said.
Raber said he found inspiration for the product when he saw an MMA fighter go down after taking a kick to the groin.
"It takes a re-teaching," said Raber. "Lately we've been getting a lot of re-teaching by watching TV. So why even wear something or buy something when it's not going to hold up when it's supposed to?"
Nutshellz's 'Level 1' protector sells for a little more than $100. The 'Level 2' sells for about $125.
You can read more about the company here.
