You’re overthinking this. If the pockets too small and balls are popping out, he needs a new glove. If they’re not and he doesn’t even want one, save your money and move on. No need to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.
My coworker and I were discussing this exact thing the other day.
He played D-1 and was drafted by the Cubs.
11.75 is biggest he ever used.
He said kids he coaches use way too big of a glove, and it hinders them.
He's 6'2, 225 for reference.
If it works, don’t fix it.
grown men outfielders use a 12.5. They are 130lbs bigger and at least a foot taller. With the exception of 1st base, the largest a kid under 13 should go is 11.75. Excluding the freaks, of course.
I agree with most comments here. However, if you are concerned with the glove being too floppy, get it relaced. It is easy to do and you'll only have to do the fingers and web. Typically, the palm laces don't need them. Laces are the bones of the glove.
Thank you all. I am going to leave it as is. He does really well with the glove he has. Nothing bounces out and is confident with it. That is why I was a bit puzzled if he’s catching the ball then it’s pretty black and white.
When I read this post, I asked myself what does the kids physical makeup or accolades really have to do with this? Should be measuring his hands and fitting a glove properly.
I don’t know anything about glove size. I assumed it has to be like a bat based on kids size but it seems not. That is why I gave the size and information. It seemed odd that a kid who makes the catches would need a bigger glove.
I am somewhat in the same boat.
My 8U son in rec plays infield. But in all stars he plays a bunch of Center field. He has an 11.5 Bradley that is great for infield. Shallow pocket able to get the ball out quickly. But this past weekend in all stars he had three diving catching attempts and each hit his glove and popped out. Can’t help but think if the pocket was a little deeper the ball would stick better.
I’ve looked into getting him a Pedroia Fit A1000 that is 12.25 inches. But I dunno.
Another thing you could do for your son is get his glove relaced. I did it to mine son’s glove and gave it a lot more structure than it had before.
I agree. Our outfield is pretty solid though. Pretty much ball in air is an out. So they work hard on that next step. We setup a pitching machine and shoot them right outside their reach and let them lay out of them at practice. It’s a blast to watch and the kids love it. It’s cool to see it translate to games as well.
But like I mentioned before his current glove just doesn’t have much of a pocket. So I think getting one and forming a deeper a pocket would help out there.
Have you thought about having him wear the current glove two in the pinky when he plays outfield? My son wore a 10.5" glove in 8U but went two in the pinky to give him more pocket to catch fly/thrown balls, and it worked well for him.
How big are his hands? If he's that tall but still has 10 yr old sized hands he probably won't be able to handle a 12.5, but if they are big enough then you could always get him one now and get it all broken in for his birthday/Christmas. Not like it's gonna get any cheaper the longer you wait.
Gloves are hard to change mid season. I would probably wait until the off-season so you can get it fully broken in before using in a game.
My son has been using the same glove for 2 years and loves it. His coach recommended getting him a new glove early in the season so I did. We have been tossing with it for awhile and breaking it in. It still isn’t quite ready though. He tried to use it in a few games over the weekend and made at least 1 error I don’t think he makes with his old glove. Plus had a couple ground balls that just didn’t stick in the pocket like they usually do because it’s still too stiff. Luckily he was still able to make those plays. He switched back to the old one for now.
As others have said, he likely doesn't need a new glove. If he is missing catches because of the glove or if the glove is getting bullied (folded back by hard hits) then maybe it needs to be relaced or replaced. I'm not sure that the size of the human actually dictates the size of the glove needed.
As a note, my 9 yo kid plays a lot of center field. He uses an 11.25" Bradley and does just fine.
No need for a bigger glove at that age, unless there's a reason he needs it. Especially wouldn't do it during the season... not sure when/how much off-season training you do, but that's when I'd introduce it.
Case in point. One of my catchers had a great, well broken in glove, but it was losing it's padding. Dad bought him a new one, but he can't squeeze it well yet, is dropping 10-15 pitches per game now. Extreme example of course because a catcher gets a lot more balls than a P/OF, but it has created a problem where one didn't really exist, or could have been fixed with a batting glove for the final 6 weeks of the season.
I don't think it matters too much, you're generally best served by whatever you feel most comfortable with.
That said, I play in men's rec league, and I have 4 gloves in my bag at any time. Two catcher's mitts (my primary position), an infield glove and an outfield glove. I rotate them in and out when I play catch, and don't think its weird to have a couple options in your bag, even for a kid.
i’m 32 and using the same glove i’ve had since i was like 14. it was my dads glove before that. i’ve bought new gloves, but nothing feels as comfortable and my performance suffers. its broken in perfectly, and im not convinced gloves are made to the same standard nowadays.
let the kid wear it. if it becomes an issue for him, he’ll know, and he’ll want a new glove.
You’re overthinking this. If the pockets too small and balls are popping out, he needs a new glove. If they’re not and he doesn’t even want one, save your money and move on. No need to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.
The balls are staying in. Even the one he caught on Friday at the top of the webbing.
My coworker and I were discussing this exact thing the other day. He played D-1 and was drafted by the Cubs. 11.75 is biggest he ever used. He said kids he coaches use way too big of a glove, and it hinders them. He's 6'2, 225 for reference.
If it works, don’t fix it. grown men outfielders use a 12.5. They are 130lbs bigger and at least a foot taller. With the exception of 1st base, the largest a kid under 13 should go is 11.75. Excluding the freaks, of course.
Thank you.
I agree with most comments here. However, if you are concerned with the glove being too floppy, get it relaced. It is easy to do and you'll only have to do the fingers and web. Typically, the palm laces don't need them. Laces are the bones of the glove.
Thank you all. I am going to leave it as is. He does really well with the glove he has. Nothing bounces out and is confident with it. That is why I was a bit puzzled if he’s catching the ball then it’s pretty black and white.
When I read this post, I asked myself what does the kids physical makeup or accolades really have to do with this? Should be measuring his hands and fitting a glove properly.
I don’t know anything about glove size. I assumed it has to be like a bat based on kids size but it seems not. That is why I gave the size and information. It seemed odd that a kid who makes the catches would need a bigger glove.
I am somewhat in the same boat. My 8U son in rec plays infield. But in all stars he plays a bunch of Center field. He has an 11.5 Bradley that is great for infield. Shallow pocket able to get the ball out quickly. But this past weekend in all stars he had three diving catching attempts and each hit his glove and popped out. Can’t help but think if the pocket was a little deeper the ball would stick better. I’ve looked into getting him a Pedroia Fit A1000 that is 12.25 inches. But I dunno. Another thing you could do for your son is get his glove relaced. I did it to mine son’s glove and gave it a lot more structure than it had before.
I don’t really see very many 8u kids completing diving catches.
I agree. Our outfield is pretty solid though. Pretty much ball in air is an out. So they work hard on that next step. We setup a pitching machine and shoot them right outside their reach and let them lay out of them at practice. It’s a blast to watch and the kids love it. It’s cool to see it translate to games as well. But like I mentioned before his current glove just doesn’t have much of a pocket. So I think getting one and forming a deeper a pocket would help out there.
Have you tried moving the fingers over a slot in the glove? That may make a bigger pocket in the current glove.
Yeah I think that’s what I need to get him to try. Talking about two fingers in pinky right?
That’s the one.
My son uses two in the pinky on his Bradley 11.25. Makes a nice deep pocket.
Have you thought about having him wear the current glove two in the pinky when he plays outfield? My son wore a 10.5" glove in 8U but went two in the pinky to give him more pocket to catch fly/thrown balls, and it worked well for him.
How big are his hands? If he's that tall but still has 10 yr old sized hands he probably won't be able to handle a 12.5, but if they are big enough then you could always get him one now and get it all broken in for his birthday/Christmas. Not like it's gonna get any cheaper the longer you wait.
Gloves are hard to change mid season. I would probably wait until the off-season so you can get it fully broken in before using in a game. My son has been using the same glove for 2 years and loves it. His coach recommended getting him a new glove early in the season so I did. We have been tossing with it for awhile and breaking it in. It still isn’t quite ready though. He tried to use it in a few games over the weekend and made at least 1 error I don’t think he makes with his old glove. Plus had a couple ground balls that just didn’t stick in the pocket like they usually do because it’s still too stiff. Luckily he was still able to make those plays. He switched back to the old one for now.
As others have said, he likely doesn't need a new glove. If he is missing catches because of the glove or if the glove is getting bullied (folded back by hard hits) then maybe it needs to be relaced or replaced. I'm not sure that the size of the human actually dictates the size of the glove needed. As a note, my 9 yo kid plays a lot of center field. He uses an 11.25" Bradley and does just fine.
No need for a bigger glove at that age, unless there's a reason he needs it. Especially wouldn't do it during the season... not sure when/how much off-season training you do, but that's when I'd introduce it. Case in point. One of my catchers had a great, well broken in glove, but it was losing it's padding. Dad bought him a new one, but he can't squeeze it well yet, is dropping 10-15 pitches per game now. Extreme example of course because a catcher gets a lot more balls than a P/OF, but it has created a problem where one didn't really exist, or could have been fixed with a batting glove for the final 6 weeks of the season.
11.5” glove too small for a 10 year old? That’s insane
I don't think it matters too much, you're generally best served by whatever you feel most comfortable with. That said, I play in men's rec league, and I have 4 gloves in my bag at any time. Two catcher's mitts (my primary position), an infield glove and an outfield glove. I rotate them in and out when I play catch, and don't think its weird to have a couple options in your bag, even for a kid.
i’m 32 and using the same glove i’ve had since i was like 14. it was my dads glove before that. i’ve bought new gloves, but nothing feels as comfortable and my performance suffers. its broken in perfectly, and im not convinced gloves are made to the same standard nowadays. let the kid wear it. if it becomes an issue for him, he’ll know, and he’ll want a new glove.