Well that’ll put the ball in baseball…
In case you haven’t been following along, the MLB and sports apparel company Fanatics have been getting brutally roasted for their new uniforms ahead of the 2024 season.
The uniforms were designed by Nike, but since 2017 the production has been outsourced to apparel company Fanatics – and this year they switched to a new “Nike Vapor Premium” jersey. And they haven’t exactly gone over well so far.
Since the start of spring training, players and fans alike have been pretty vocal about the poor quality of the jerseys, which honestly look like knockoffs that you and I could buy from Fanatics ourselves.
Thoughts on the new Fanatics uniforms teams will be wearing this season? pic.twitter.com/tbWx5eQSDr
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) February 13, 2024
And several players have been openly critical of their new uniforms, with one anonymous Baltimore Oriole saying that they look “like a knockoff from T.J. Maxx” while Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner was more blunt with his criticism:
“I know everyone hates them.”
Fanatics claims that the new jerseys are supposed to be more breathable and allow the players to move around better. But according to Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward, that hasn’t been his experience so far:
“It feels kind of like papery.
It could be great when you’re out there sweating, it may be breathable. But I haven’t had that opportunity yet to try that out.
But from the looks of it, it doesn’t look like a $450 jersey. So far, thumbs down.”
Even Fanatics has seemingly (and unintentionally) acknowledged the poor quality of the jerseys on social media, with their customer service replying to actual MLB uniforms and saying they look screwed up.
lmao Fanatics' new jerseys are so trash that their customer service team is responding "oops, that looks wrong, please contact us so we can replace your screwed-up jersey order" not realizing they're replying to… a photo of an actual MLB player's actual MLB uniform pic.twitter.com/LXQSRLXdHK
— ℳatt (@matttomic) February 21, 2024
Yeah, not great.
But aside from the quality, another issue has popped up now that the players are trying on the full uniform: The pants are see-through.
It’s insane how cheap the MLB pants are now. Fanatics what are we doing, we can see his jersey tucked in through his pants 😂 pic.twitter.com/GwwGfYbZY5
— Marc Luino (@GiraffeNeckMarc) February 21, 2024
the see-through pants are crazy lol how do you not quality control ANYTHING? https://t.co/CVT7y3miA7
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) February 21, 2024
Are the new pants…see-through? 😬
(Via @mlb) pic.twitter.com/4Lqn6Wie9e
— Stadium (@Stadium) February 21, 2024
WHAT DID FANATICS DO TO THE PANTS https://t.co/srCcamp0aR pic.twitter.com/gxssmszzqy
— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) February 21, 2024
Pretty sure that won’t leave much to the imagination when the lights come on.
For their part, the MLB Players Association has finally gotten involved, telling The Athletic that they’re working with the MLB, Nike and Fanatics to address concerns that the players have before the season begins.
But with opening day just over a month away, we’ll have to wait and see if they can come up with a whole new set of uniforms for the entire league by March 28…or if there we’ll see more than bats swinging out on the field this season.
