We have been looking for a new catcher's mitt for my son since November. He will be playing 13u, he's 5'4",95#. No growth spurt yet.

We have found the better mitts to be too big for his hand, mostly the wrist area. He has pretty long fingers.

I did order a Rawlings Pro Taper mitt, but the pocket was too small, so we sent it back. What circ. size should we be looking at? 32, 32.5, 33?

He does have a couple of harder throwers on his team so he wants enough padding, but also does not too deep of pocket (his words).

Anyone have experience with the Praying Mantis series, All Star or others they would recommend?

My son loves his Kelly 33" Black Series - says it feels really light. It's a good looking mitt.

These are ones I was looking at:

Akadema, the APM series (apm 40,apm 41,apm 42) The apm41 has the kip leather

All Star, cm3100sbt (this one has a velcro closure around wrist area)

Mizuno, gxc52 MVP Prime series (this one has a buckle strap closure around wrist area, might help?)

Can anyone comment on these mitts, or have experience with them? How do the Akadema mitts fit around the wrist area- do they taper down or are they quite wide open?

33" Kelly ProLine is a great mitt and won't break the bank. Medium depth pocket, 060 series I believe is what he prefers. He also has used the Elevation series but thinks the Proline offers just as much for less $$$. Believe they went for around $129 or so acouple years ago. Proline/Elevation may be bit heavy for some kids but my son took to the 33" at age 13 just fine (he was about the same height but 30 pounds heavier).

personally, I like the 34" A2000....where was this 35 years ago.

32" mitt size isn't bad but the pitchers better be around the plate. Most 32" have a shallower pocket and once the pitch speed gets up there he better have soft hands with a shallow mitt or he may have balls popping out of his mitt.

My son is 15 and has long thin fingers (5'10" 135 lbs). He loves his Wilson A2000 glove (Wilson A2403 M1BG; 33.5" model). He has used this glove over the past two+ years and it is still in great shape. He also has a Kelley "Black Series" (BLK 063; 33") mitt that he will move to when the A2000 fades. We thought this would happen last year as he catches about 80+ games plus practices and bullpens each year. But, the Wilson remains in great shape.

He'll use his existing Wilson for his bullpen glove when the Kelley becomes his game glove. He'll then pick either another new Kelley or new Wilson to keep in reserve as the cycle continues. My son is very picky about his gloves . . . these are the ones he has settled on.

We tried on the Wilson 2403 last fall (I had heard so many good things about it) and it just fell off his hand - I had to laugh a little.

His first catchers mitt was a Wilson though, and it worked well for him.

My son is very picky too. I looked at the Kelley website...lots to choose from, I wouldn't know where to start...esp. since I have never seen or touched one of their gloves.

From the looks of them, they do remind me of his old Wilson

Anyone else- opinions? favorites?

My son has used Wilson 2403's since he was 10. He doesn't want anything else.

Here is 17's history, likes and dislikes:

His hands are not huge, I would call them average. His wrists are not big either. I will comment that he uses one of those padded batting gloves on his catching hand.

Started out at 12 with a Wilson Pudge A2000. Used it alot. In fact, we have purchased and he has gone through 4 of these gloves through spring of his Junior year. That means to me that they break in quick, but break down quick also.

His catching coach suggested an Akadema APM42 at age 13. Surprisingly, he said that this model was used by some of the big league catchers. The coach was the Tampa Bay Rays catching coordinator, and as I recall, he said that Toby Hall used one. Now if anyone has seen Toby, he is huge with huge hands. The feature the catching coach commented on was the small size (32.5") and the ability to get the ball out of the pocket on exchanges. The funny thing is that 17 found the Akadema too tight for his taste at age 13. He tried to use it each year, through sophomore year, just to see. But each time, he went back to the Pudge.

Last summer he chose a Louisville Slugger TPX Pro Series XPROCM Catchers Mitt. It seems that this has been the most durable and lasting compared to the Wilson gloves. It now has about 80 games on it and it is still holding its shape. He has commented recently that the padding is coming out of the seams of the glove a bit. I am trying to get him to wait until college to buy another one when they will have their own catching gloves preferences to choose from.

One thing that I would recommend is that to maintain shape on the gloves not to put them into the bag with the gear. The moisture from the catching gear and cramming it in the bag will cause it to break down quicker. He carries it separate from his other equipment and keeps it clean with "Rawling's Gloveolium Towlettes." I know it sounds fancy but they really get the dirt, sweat and grime off the glove and keep it properly conditioned.

He takes the glove with him in his truck daily instead of leaving it with the rest of his stuff in the locker room and when he flies he always takes it as carry on. He says that I can always strap on different gear or use a different bat but I can't replace this one tool that I have worked in and depend on.

Another tip he received from several people and has been mentioned on this site before I will mention again. It is the 3 glove rule. 1 is the gamer, this is the glove that you are currently using and is the one that sees the field during competition. 2 is the old gamer, it is available to replace the gamer should it fail. 3 is the next gamer, this is the new glove you buy and work to break in once the gamer gets too tired and can't take anymore, this is used in bullpens and practice. It may seem expensive but in the end if you catch a lot of games and this is your position you will find that you have to spend the money anyway.

Lastly, this tip is the one that may get your kid named selfish. Do not let anyone else put their hand in your catching glove. Not the coach or team mates. It seems funny but the glove will mold to the catchers hand, and anyone else with bigger hands will change that shape. 17 usually throws his old gamer to anyone that wants to use his glove. In pre high school ball, it is usual for a coach to go out and warm up the pitcher and grab the gamer while your kid is strapping it on. Explain it to the adult coach if there is any misunderstanding.

I know I got carried away and may not have exactly answered the question, so sorry if I bored anyone. But this is the catching forum....

Backstop-17, thanks for the reply.

Well the Wilson he was using was a 32", and now he wants a little larger and also a medium pocket (the Wilson had quite a shallow pocket)

I haven't looked at any TPX mitts. I did email Kelley gloves and they said if I called they would help me choose the right mitt.

All the glove talk aside, we had a school BB game tonight and I can't help but notice how different in build my kid is (skinny and prob. in the upper third of the kids height-wise) and how many boys ARE changing at this age and how tough it is when your kid isn't yet.

My kid used to be able to out run most of the kids -not so much anymore, and the kids who have started are just able to JUMP...and he is just not aggressive enough, so frustrating. Do I worry about this? or when should I expect any "change" to start?

don't worry mom, he'll start growing any time now.
Usually between the freshman and sophmore year. My son has a friend who was 5'7" tall at end of sophmore year and beginning of senior year he was 6'2" he is now 6'4" tall. His dad now has to stand on a chair to whack him in the back of his head (just kidding)

I try not to worry - it's hard when you see the other kids with the bigger muscles, and their voices have changed.

He's a little over 5'4" now. I am 5'7", his dad is 6'.

We also have two girls, the oldest just turned 19. She is 5'10". I am more worried about the weight issue. Will that increase as muscle increases?

quote:

Originally posted by Backstop-17:
...

Started out at 12 with a Wilson Pudge A2000. Used it alot. In fact, we have purchased and he has gone through 4 of these gloves through spring of his Junior year. That means to me that they break in quick, but break down quick also.

My son has also used the Wilson Pudge Glove with better results. His first one he got at age 12 and still carries it as a backup 9 years later. He has a second pudge glove and a Wilson A2403 2092-T (31 1/2 inch) glove he uses in games. He has had a number of different gloves, kelly, rawlings, nike,easton.

He never used the Kelly glove ($120) although it looked decent. He was disappointed with the rawlings glove ($200+) as the poket was a little too big and the leather started ripping after 3 months. He disowned the Easton glove almost as fast as he got it (good thing it was free) He surprising thought the Nike glove (free), was pretty good even though it was big. By far and away the Wilson A2403 2092-T ($150) is his favorite, and cheapest!

You'll have to look pretty hard to find a smaller qualtiy leather glove then the a2403 2092-T. My son has caught a lot of college games with this 31 1/2 inch glove. The pudge is a 32.5 glove.

Two Words rule --- Personal preference!

I can only tell you what my son used and his comments about the different mitts. He started using the Rawlings HOH line when he was about your son's age (not real happy with them) switched to the TPX (liked them) and later signed an equipment deal with All-Star when he turned pro. I was skeptical at first because of the All Star name that I associated with less expensive equipment --- not so. All Star top of the line equipment is superb. He says the Pro elite CM3000SBT is by far the best catcher's mitt he has ever used. It measures at 33.5 but seems smaller and seems light to me but is very durable and maintains it's form and would not be too large for a 13yo catcher.
On your son's size. Look at it differently. Your son is your son --- his size is his size. People don't come in different sizes, clothes come in different sizes to accommodate a variety of people. Most athletes work on becoming bigger - faster - stronger not because they have been "slighted" but because they have the ability to become better.
Fungo

Thanks Fungo,

Last fall we bought a chest protector, leg guards and helmet - all All Star. Great stuff and even more important - HE likes it!

My original thought included an All Star glove - the cm3100 sbt. It is prob. between this one and a Kelley glove.

I know there is nothing I can do about his size - feed 'em and love 'em, but I wanted to know that this is "normal" right now - for reference I just have 2 other kids and they're girls.

Personal preference is definitely what it comes down to. However, we're getting close to the Spring season and some gloves take much longer to break in than others. This is the case with the Kelley Black Series. I would reccomend that 17 test the glove and maybe buy the next glove before buying the glove that he plans to use this season. Just my $.02. Good Luck.

Anyone use the All Star cm3100sbt? What kind of pocket does it have -shallow, medium, deep?

Thoughts, opinions? We are still looking/deciding on a mitt.

my son also uses the All Star cm3100sbt and he loves it. I am looking for another so he will have 2.He has used many before it and this is the one he swears by.I don't think you will go wrong with it. I, too, thought it might be too big as he had used a Wilson 2403 1791 as a younger player, but he won't change now.

Does he seem to like the attached wrist guard?

He is really looking for a medium sized pocket, like I said before the Wilson he had used had a very shallow pocket.

catchersdad - just curious, how old is your son?

iowabbmom,
I have sent you a PM