3 Tips For Selecting A Good Baseball Glove For Pitching

1.    It should be 11-3/4 to 12 inches in length.
2.    It should have a closed web (to hide the baseball, of course).
3.    It should be all one color (e.g., brown or black).

If you are a pitcher like me who prefers to leave your index finger outside the back of your glove, try to get a piece of leather to cover it. Some glove companies, such as Rawlings, offer this on some glove models. (If your glove doesn’t have this feature, you can take it to a leather shoe repair shop and have a piece of leather affixed to the back of your mitt.) This is important because often, without knowing it, pitchers tip off their off-speed pitches by making subtle movements with their index finger outside the glove. Some hitters may pick up on that finger movement. If your finger’s covered, however, those movements are shielded from view.

Rawlings, SSK, Mizuno, and Zett make good gloves. Wilson and Nakoma tend to be on the heavy side, while Akadema and Nike make gloves that tend to be lighter in weight. Another company comparable to Akadema is Yennaco, made by Jay Yennaco, a former Chicago Cubs player.

Most premium-leather baseball gloves have a “break in” time of about three or four weeks, and most professional baseball players have two or three gloves – a game-day glove, and one or two gloves that are used for practices.