Gloves with small hand stalls

[mpk]

My son's glove went missing the other day. I thought he'd left it on the field after practice because we wrapped things up late and we were picking up gear after dark and I didn't think to check his bag but we couldn't find it the next day. It was MIA for a few days before it turned up in another coaches trunk. For awhile there though, I thought I was going to need to buy him a new glove. AKA, I thought I was going to have an excuse to buy another glove

Anyway, he's 9 and uses a Louisville Slugger Icon 11.25" I-web. Great glove BTW, had it for maybe 4 years now and it's still in great shape. Surprisingly, the hand stall is small enough that it fits him pretty well despite being an adult glove worn by a small for his age 9 year old.

While I was considering buying him a new glove, I was thinking the toughest part might be finding a high quality glove with a hand stall that would be small enough for him to use without it falling off all the time.

What are some baseball gloves/patterns that are known for having a small hand stall? Looking for something of Rawlings HOH or Wilson A2000 quality but not necessarily those brands. I know the DP15 will come up but is there anything else out there that will work well for smaller hands?

LS Icon 11.25" on the left next to my Pro1000 12".

 

[ANNASDAD]

The Pro88 Dual Core my son used had a perfect sized hand stall. Stupid here thought the Pro88 was only a Dual Core model until Jchap informed me you can get that model in a HOH non Dual Core.

 

[etnstudios]

wait, there's a son too? feel like we don't hear about him

 

[Drumbum37]

The showcase series by Wilson. They have a2000s with "sc" at the end of the model.

 

[ANNASDAD]

wait, there's a son too? feel like we don't hear about him

Me? Yeah he's the basketball player. After he told me he didn't want to play baseball anymore, we keep him locked up in the back of the house and feed him a couple times a week.
What makes me mad/sad is he is just a natural hitter, tough out! Anna's a really good hitter "now" but it didn't come as easy, lots of work!

 

[MaverickAH]

The LS Icon is an excellent glove choice for a youth. If he's had the glove since he was 5 years old, it should be in great shape. A child of that age is just not going to put a lot of wear & tear on a quality glove if it's properly used & maintained. Now I don't know what level of ball your son is currently playing but if he isn't playing tournament ball, I wouldn't worry about getting him a new glove just yet. Not for another 2 years at least.

If he is playing travel ball & you live in an area where year round play is the norm, now is probably the time to get him a new glove. There are plenty of good quality options available.

• Nokona has plenty of high end youth gloves.
• Rawlings has their Heart of the Hide Narrow Fit Series.
• Shoeless Joe Junior Series
• Mizuno Classic Future Pro
• Marucci RS225 Series
• Wilson A1000 Series
• Bradley is a new company who designs gloves exclusively for the youth market

At 9 years old I think that the bigger question is, "How soon will he be going through a growth spurt & is spending money on a high-end youth glove wise at this point?" If he's playing high level tournament ball. do it. If not, hold off, get the most out of that Icon & then pass on that PRO1000 to him!

 

[beeblebobble]

I second Mav on checking out Bradley Baseball gloves. Great patterns for youth, made with quality materials.

 

[branden13]

Reebok vr6000

 

[NYC]

You can just adjust the wrist opening to the tightest setting and almost any glove can have a tight stall. The finger stalls is another thing, I am always on the lookout for tight finger stall patterns.

 

[Wally Gator]

Me? Yeah he's the basketball player After he told me he didn't want to play baseball anymore, we keep him locked up in the back of the house and feed him a couple times a week.
What makes me mad/sad is he is just a natural hitter, tough out! Anna's a really good hitter "now" but it didn't come as easy, lots of work!

Opposite thing with my kids. Daughter was strongest hitter for her age in town, but walked away from the game after 4 straight trips to state championships. Switch hitting son takes up most of my work time now. Miss the days of underhand BP.

 

[Rous]

FWIW, I think the LS (Icon) glove you have is based on a Nokona 11 1/4" pattern (long story).

I want to know what the deal is with this one. The Nokona 12.75" baseball glove has a HUGE hand stall, but this is a youth glove and seems to have a much narrower opening.... more like the fastpitch gloves, but those are all Velcro closure gloves.

http://www.nokona.mybigcommerce.com/skn-8-nv-12-75/

 

[mpk]

The Pro88 Dual Core my son used had a perfect sized hand stall. Stupid here thought the Pro88 was only a Dual Core model until Jchap informed me you can get that model in a HOH non Dual Core.

I actually really like the look of this one and is about what I was thinking. Adult glove, high quality, just with a smaller hand stall.

The LS Icon is an excellent glove choice for a youth. If he's had the glove since he was 5 years old, it should be in great shape. A child of that age is just not going to put a lot of wear & tear on a quality glove if it's properly used & maintained. Now I don't know what level of ball your son is currently playing but if he isn't playing tournament ball, I wouldn't worry about getting him a new glove just yet. Not for another 2 years at least.

If he is playing travel ball & you live in an area where year round play is the norm, now is probably the time to get him a new glove. There are plenty of good quality options available.

• Nokona has plenty of high end youth gloves.
• Rawlings has their Heart of the Hide Narrow Fit Series.
• Shoeless Joe Junior Series
• Mizuno Classic Future Pro
• Marucci RS225 Series
• Wilson A1000 Series
• Bradley is a new company who designs gloves exclusively for the youth market

At 9 years old I think that the bigger question is, "How soon will he be going through a growth spurt & is spending money on a high-end youth glove wise at this point?" If he's playing high level tournament ball. do it. If not, hold off, get the most out of that Icon & then pass on that PRO1000 to him!

Oh yeah, he doesn't NEED a new glove. I was just thinking about it and thought I'd be a good topic to discuss on here for others as well as my own future purchase decisions. He's not in travel ball but is playing both spring and fall ball though Little League so about 35 games per year. Still not really enough to put any serious wear on the glove after a few years.

I wasn't really thinking of youth gloves, more adult gloves that could fit a smaller hand. The idea being that it would be a glove a kid use but also continue to use for middle infield as a teen or young adult. One of the guys I coach with still has his Pro1000 he got when he was 14. It's over 30 years old but has held up amazingly. I just like the idea of getting my boy a glove that has the potential to last him a lifetime.

FWIW, I think the LS (Icon) glove you have is based on a Nokona 11 1/4" pattern (long story).

I want to know what the deal is with this one. The Nokona 12.75" baseball glove has a HUGE hand stall, but this is a youth glove and seems to have a much narrower opening.... more like the fastpitch gloves, but those are all Velcro closure gloves.

http://www.nokona.mybigcommerce.com/skn-8-nv-12-75/

I thought I'd read something that Louisville Slugger had purchased Nokona and there was a lot of overlap in their patterns and designs starting a few years back. The Icons definitely have a Nokona look to them.

Anybody hear how the Easton small batch 11.5" that is out right now fits?

 

[Rous]

I thought I'd read something that Louisville Slugger had purchased Nokona and there was a lot of overlap in their patterns and designs starting a few years back. The Icons definitely have a Nokona look to them.

A private equity firm partnered with Nokona in the early 2000s. They wanted to dramatically expand the Nokona brand (including making gloves in China and a factory in Massachusetts). When the economy tanked, the partnership fell apart and the Massachusetts factory was owed a lot of money. As part of the settlement, the factory got to keep the patterns. They then went on to make Insignia gloves and, later, LS Icon gloves with those patterns (some of which they seem to have modified).

And that was the short version!

 

[MaverickAH]

A private equity firm partnered with Nokona in the early 2000s. They wanted to dramatically expand the Nokona brand (including making gloves in China and a factory in Massachusetts). When the economy tanked, the partnership fell apart and the Massachusetts factory was owed a lot of money. As part of the settlement, the factory got to keep the patterns. They then went on to make Insignia gloves and, later, LS Icon gloves with those patterns (some of which they seem to have modified).

And that was the short version!

Also made LS Evolution gloves & they now make gloves for Roy Hobbs.

Insignia is very underrated & often overlooked.........

 

[Rous]

Also made LS Evolution gloves & they now make gloves for Roy Hobbs.

Insignia is very underrated & often overlooked.........

Agreed. I have one of their modified Nokona gloves: Sort of a cross between a AMG175 and an AMG650.

At first, they didn't really get "leather." That is, they had a computer figure out how to cut all the pieces from a hide to minimize waste, but not to maximize glove quality. The palm pieces should be cut from the upper back portion of the hide (and I think the orientation of the piece matters too), but the algorithm didn't account for that. Early Nokonas from the factory looked all sorts of weird.

 

[ronaldosw]

Rawlings Select Pro Lite leather is soft and brittle. I would highly recommend this glove for 7 to 12 year olds.

 

[Drumbum37]

4 yr old post

 

[davisrelacing]

4 yr old post

I guess it’s like @ANNASDAD and @Rous said, at least there is activity from new members. Maybe some old posts could be updated with new info?