Baseball or fastpitch catcher's mitt for Dad

[PharmerBrown]

Me and Eric have talked about palm padding extensively, on Vinci mitts, it's their thing!! That's why Vinci's are such a monster to break in, the palm pad and the palm pad only!

And they have a memory....when you think you're just about on top of it, the weather changes and it goes right back to where it started, stiff! There's no replacement or substitute to LOTS of repetition, you have to start breaking that palm pad down!

I've been pounding and working this thing every day. I took it for a spin and was surprisingly able to catch some balls. The hand stall feels much better now.

The palm pad is serious. I'm not sure how long it will be until I can close it with the strength of my fingers.

 

[ANNASDAD]

I have a Jugs Super Softball machine that hasn't gotten much use the last few years since I gave up coaching. If the weather cooperates, I might get it out of the shed and have my daughter fire bucket after bucket to me to help the break in process.

Want to sent you a PM, your profile setup has me blocked!!? WTH LE?

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Want to sent you a PM, your profile setup has me blocked!!? WTH LE?

I certainly wouldn't block you. I just sent you a PM. Let me know if you got it.

 

[uncdrew]

So, I just took the mitt out for a brief spin with my older daughter, the catcher. I had her throw some to me overhanded to see if I could catch them without dropping them. Low and behold, I was able to catch them in the developing pocket. This mitt still needs a ton of work, but I can already tell it has a lot more padding than the Liberty Advanced fastpitch mitt I was using.

I don't know if it's common for the baseball mitt to have that much more padding, but my anecdotal experience says the HOH has a lot more.

A question I have is if there are many college catchers who use baseball mitts rather than fastpitch ones?

I recently tried my old, flimsy Academa catcher's glove with my DD. First pitch fastball and I had to dock my DD a week's allowance for hurting her dad. Back to the HoH for me.

 

[uncdrew]

Yeah, the parents of little Sally out in RF have NO clue!

Yet they often think they do.

I'm very gentle (but firm) in those conversations. "I'm not saying Sally doesn't practice a lot, I'm just saying being a pitcher is just a whole different situation that involves a ton of time and effort".

They seem mad when I say that my DD practices a lot.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

I recently tried my old, flimsy Academa catcher's glove with my DD. First pitch fastball and I had to dock my DD a week's allowance for hurting her dad. Back to the HoH for me.

I had one of those a few years ago. I was so pleasantly surprised when it broke in so fast, but then I realized why...

 

[Towny9]

Yet they often think they do.

I'm very gentle (but firm) in those conversations. "I'm not saying Sally doesn't practice a lot, I'm just saying being a pitcher is just a whole different situation that involves a ton of time and effort".

They seem mad when I say that my DD practices a lot.

Someone told me once - “pitchers are like being a two sport athlete”. “They learn to play softball and they learn to pitch”. That always stuck with me. As a two way player in college, I would be jealous watching the team leave practice while i stayed to get my bullpen and running in so I didn’t miss reps in the field or in bp.

 

[Tatonka]

Someone told me once - “pitchers are like being a two sport athlete”. “They learn to play softball and they learn to pitch”. That always stuck with me. As a two way player in college, I would be jealous watching the team leave practice while i stayed to get my bullpen and running in so I didn’t miss reps in the field or in bp.

We've said that for years (and often the same for my Catcher DD)...in my mind they are truly "two sport athletes". The extra time and effort for those two positions is substantial and involves additional expense as well. Catchers gear, face masks, more (or better) cleats, additional gloves (unless P or C is your only position), often weekly or more specialized training, extra or different nets/targets to throw to and more little items that all add up.

And then, as you mention trying to make sure you also get batting reps in, often not of the same quality due to lack of other pitchers or not having enough catchers. Not to mention getting practice time at your secondary/other position.

It's not easy and not for everyone. I completely agree that others (including some coaches) don't understand.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

We've said that for years (and often the same for my Catcher DD)...in my mind they are truly "two sport athletes". The extra time and effort for those two positions is substantial and involves additional expense as well. Catchers gear, face masks, more (or better) cleats, additional gloves (unless P or C is your only position), often weekly or more specialized training, extra or different nets/targets to throw to and more little items that all add up.

And then, as you mention trying to make sure you also get batting reps in, often not of the same quality due to lack of other pitchers or not having enough catchers. Not to mention getting practice time at your secondary/other position.

It's not easy and not for everyone. I completely agree that others (including some coaches) don't understand.

I have both. The expense and training is unreal. I was spending close to $400 per week on lessons last winter for both girls. And it never stops.

 

[Tatonka]

I have both. The expense and training is unreal. I was spending close to $400 per week on lessons last winter for both girls. And it never stops.

Yep. There is definitely an upside to having both as well, my twins being a pitcher and a catcher saved me from always being a bucket Dad and gave me the ability to watch each of them much more closely during countless hours of practice and training. They also push each harder and more often than you would find in most normal team scenarios and that has even continued into college (now in their Junior yr) although just due to living on campus with other teammates has altered the accessibility issue.