CUMBERLAND — A reporter approaches Cony High baseball coach Don Plourde and asks to speak to one of his players.

The topic has nothing to do with the victory over defending Class B champ Greely in a scrimmage Thursday.

Instead, the topic is how wearable accessories and pseudo-protective equipment are turning high school baseball uniforms into designer outfits worthy of a fashion runway.

“It’s absurd,” Plourde says. Then the veteran coach with an Army sergeant mug cracks a smile and laughs. “Oh, we’ve got a couple of guys.”

Enter Cony senior Parker Morin. A star quarterback in the fall, Morin is a pitcher, shortstop and center fielder in the spring. His baseball-specific backpack looks like something a mother of twins might lug around. There’s two of everything. Two bats. Two gloves. Cleats and shoes. Plus Morin’s leg and elbow guards and many other smaller items.

Greely baseball coach Derek Soule knows the desire to look cool while playing sports is nothing new; young players have long emulated big leaguers’ batting stances or pretended four sticks of bubble gum was a wad of chewing tobacco.

Now there’s many more ways to accessorize and personalize. Together, the concept is called “drip.” Dick’s Sporting Goods even has a “Baseball Drip” shopping category online.

And it all comes at a price. If one player has the full palette of items seen at the Cony-Greely scrimmage — several fit that demographic — the bargain-basement total is over $1,000. Go for some top-end equipment, an extra fielder’s glove, and a season’s supply of bubble gum and sunflower seeds, and the all-in price tag quickly jumps over $2,000.

Do all these accessories make a difference on the field?

“It does,” Morin says. “They say look good, feel good, play good. When that’s working, you’re feeling good,” he said.

Plourde and Soule aren’t so sure about the value of the extra gear. They both mention in separate conversations that they didn’t even use batting gloves in their high school days in the mid-80s to early-1990s.

Soule says he’s fine with the extra swag. “You have to adjust to the times.”

Essentials like a bat and a glove have always had a price range from cheap to pro-level. Now they can be customized in a variety of colors and designs.

Greely senior first baseman Ben Kyles said he started to get drippy as a sophomore when he got his pink bat.

“I just wanted to stand out. Like, make a name for myself as soon as I step onto the field. Because it’s noticeable. Obviously,” Kyles says. The $400 bat was a custom order, with a splash of blue and even his favorite Bible verse etched on.

Then came the pink batting gloves and pink shoelaces to match. An extra black wrist support wrap that’s not to be confused with the off-white wrist band worn just below the elbow. Sunglasses on, even though the scrimmage had been called after six innings because of darkness. Sliding mitt worn only while running the bases always stuffed in a back pocket.

Kyles is regarded by his Greely peers as the King of Drip. His crown prince may be senior Connor Skillin, a Varsity Maine All-State soccer player, who has significant swag even though he hasn’t played baseball since his freshman year.

Skillin said there isn’t really much drip in soccer and he’s loving the self-expression in baseball.

“It’s a beautiful game,” Skillin said.

Three necklaces are the focal point of Skillin’s ensemble. Sunglasses turned upside down on the brim of his hat, sliding mitt and compression sleeve also catch the eye.

Kyles jokes that, like in a video game, each accessory can add “plus-five,” or “plus-two” power.

“To be honest it really doesn’t matter. But like (Skillin) said, if you look good, you feel good and confidence is the biggest thing in baseball,” Kyles said.

Elbow guards, leg guards, sunglasses and batting gloves can each cost over $100. The sliding mitts that look a lot like an $8 oven mitt can fetch $80. Then there’s cleats for the game, which seem almost reasonable at around $90, and shower shoes ($50) for after. Wrist bands, head bands, plyometric exercise bands. Personal batting helmet. At least two bats.

The days of sliding your Little League mitt over a taped-up Louisville Slugger are long gone. With all that stuff, you’ll need a special bag (another $100 easy) to hold it all.

Not everyone is buying the consumer frenzy. August Faulkner, a senior at Waynflete School in Portland, is a four-year first baseman on the Waynflete/North Yarmouth Academy co-operative team.

“I stick to the basics. I’m wearing the same batting helmet I got in the third grade,” Faulkner said. “My glove is from my Little League days as well. I’m not exactly a huge spender.”

Ryan Copp is the director of baseball at The Edge Academy, home to the Maine Lightning baseball club, and this season he takes over as Cheverus’ varsity coach. Copp, 40, admits he likes a bit of drip, especially his custom sunglasses “which are on top of my hat right now.”

A former Greely High and Franklin Pierce College player, Copp said he thinks the style change began in the late 1990s, pointing to former Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez’s baggy pants and forearm tape that went “halfway up to his sleeve.”

Copp says the psychological “look good, play good,” piece is real.

“But does it help them hit the ball better?” he asks. “Nope.”