Lefty Catcher's Mitt

[Zandtwins]

My 10 year old daughter is catching for a travel team. I need to get her a catcher's mitt. She is a lefty and I can't find one anywhere to let her get the feel for it. I have seen a ton on the internet but have no idea what brand or size she will need. I assume she will need a youth size. Right now she is wearing her glove with a sponge in it. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

 

[sluggers]

At her age, your money would be better off getting a top-of-the line general purpose mitt. If she gets really serious about catching, then she can use this glove to play pitch and catch with.

E.g., you can pick buy the Wilson A2000 (perhaps the best glove made) for $170 or a Worth catcher's mitt for $170. If you buy the catcher's mitt and next year she ends up at 3B, you have lost $170. If you buy the A2000 and she never plays softball again, the worst thing is that you (Dad) will now have one of the finest gloves made. (If you've never used a high end glove, I highly recommend it.)

If she were 13 YOA and you could see her playing softball in HS, then I wouldn't hesitate to suggest spending $150 or $200 on a top-of-the-line Worth or Nokoma mitt. I think she is a little too young to spend that money for a catcher's mitt.

GENERALLY:

IMHO: Wilson makes great high end mitts, but their mid and lower end mitts aren't a good value. Rawlings makes better mid-tier and lower-end mitts. I wouldn't recommend buying either a Wilson or a Rawlings catchers mitt. For catchers mitts, go with Nokoma or Worth.

 

[J.R. Strickland]

First, I have to preface my response with..."I'm a gearaholic"...meaning, if my daughter is going to catch (and they do), she will have a catcher's mitt.

I have 2 girls playing on travel teams (12U and 14U) and both are catchers on their teams. For my 12 year old, I got her a Wilson A500 (don't know if it is available in left handed model). It was reasonably priced and the leather quality, while certainly not on par with Wilson's A2000 line or Nokona, I thought was decent. I was a little concerned about the quality of the lacing leather, but so far it has held up. It is also a 31" catcher's mitt and so was the right size for my smaller framed daughter to use. Unless your 10U daughter has hit her growth spurt early or is extra strong, I would tend towards 32" or less in the size. The 33" mitts may be to large for her to effectively use.

One of the catchers (a lefty) on my other daughters 14U team has one of the Louisville Slugger catchers mitts and it is a decent glove. Again, not a top-of-the-line model, but she has had it now for 3 travel seasons and it has held up well. I bought my daughter (13 YO), the same glove but in right handed throw...32" and it has served her well.

Don't know if either one of the models I bought are still available today but I think there are decent entry level catcher's mitts out there.

With that said, I tend to agree with sluggers. At the 10U level, a good regular fielders glove will be sufficient. If you really are wanting to get her a catcher's mitt, try to stay away from the larger (bigger than 32") ones.
In the future, if she commits to catching, Nokona or Worth. I'm partial to Nokona maybe because I had a Nokona catcher's mitt in high school many years ago and use a Nokona fielders glove today.