Specific recommendations for catcher's mitt, please!

[Helkat]

Hi All!

I think my daughter (15yo/18U tournament) may need a new catcher's mitt. She currently has a Vela All-Star CMW3000 33.5 which isn't that old and is still in good condition, HOWEVER, balls tend to pop out of it.
I truly THOUGHT it was my daughter just dropping balls (as did her coach) but then her coach caught with it for a few pitches while my daughter used the restroom and noticed that it wasn't user error. A couple of the other coaches looked at it and said the pocket looks really small.
Aside from this issue, it's a great glove.

What recommendations do you have? I recently purchased a Rawlings Liberty Advanced for MYSELF for a great price, but I definitely feel like the finger spacing is for larger hands than either of us have, Price is not an issue.

Thanks so much!!

 

[ANNASDAD]

So just how old, and how broken in? My CMW3000 is on it’s last leg but mine has a great pocket! And if a ball ever popped out it was more than likely my fault, and probably on a late breaking rise ball.

Honestly, there’s probably no way to break one of these in incorrectly? Have you ever taken a mallet or a dumbbell and really pounded the pocket to open it up?

If price is a non-issue, I would say order her a true custom Rawlings HOH mitt........but of course everyone will call me a Rawlings fanboy again!

I personally think the CMW3000 is an excellent mitt!

 

[Helkat]

Hey!! I was hoping you’d reply! We love her custom HOH fielding glove you recommended, so that is definitely an option!
Think that has a deeper pocket than the CMW3000?

She has been using her CMW3000 consistently in games for about a year now. We had it for a good year before that. We sent it out to TheGloveWhisperer after we realized that we just weren’t cutting it on our own. That was more than a year ago. I definitely thought it was her and never would have questioned the mitt if it weren’t for a couple of her coaches commenting on it after they all looked at it.

Thanks so much,
Helga

 

[ANNASDAD]

Think that has a deeper pocket than the CMW3000?

Wish I could answer that.......I’ve personally never seen or held a custom Rawlings catchers mitt before. If you give Travis here 4 to 6 weeks hopefully he can answer that for you!

 

[ANNASDAD]

Helkat,
Remind me of which custom I recommended?

 

[MadBandit22]

Hi All!

I think my daughter (15yo/18U tournament) may need a new catcher's mitt. She currently has a Vela All-Star CMW3000 33.5 which isn't that old and is still in good condition, HOWEVER, balls tend to pop out of it.
I truly THOUGHT it was my daughter just dropping balls (as did her coach) but then her coach caught with it for a few pitches while my daughter used the restroom and noticed that it wasn't user error. A couple of the other coaches looked at it and said the pocket looks really small.
Aside from this issue, it's a great glove.

What recommendations do you have? I recently purchased a Rawlings Liberty Advanced for MYSELF for a great price, but I definitely feel like the finger spacing is for larger hands than either of us have, Price is not an issue.

Thanks so much!!

Akadema has a Praying Mantis catchers mitt that supposedly snaps closed on contact due to the design.
They have a Fastpitch version but the baseball version looks much better to me. More padding and higher quality leather. The Turino series is their best line and then they have a Prosoft line I believe it’s called that breaks in quicker.
They send me one off offers now and again on Fastpitch mitts made with baseball leather but I haven’t been able to justify the purchase.
May be a good option especially if it helps alleviate drop 3rd strikes.

 

[Tatonka]

The finger stalls on the Liberty Advanced shouldn't be that big? My DD doesn't have huge hands by any means and she currently loves that mitt (just turned 17). Has she tried it yet? We used to have a bit of a ball pop issue with her old Vinci until it was thoroughly broken in. ;-)

 

[Travis Lassiter]

I’ve never seen a Liberty Advanced that I thought the finger stalls were too big and I sure don’t have the largest hands. But like ANNASDAD said I’ll have a true custom HoH in about 5-6 weeks. Their regular HoH, if you hold it next to the Liberty Advanced is made very similarly to it so I’d have to say it has around the same pocket size etc.

 

[bmakj]

So just how old, and how broken in? My CMW3000 is on it’s last leg but mine has a great pocket! And if a ball ever popped out it was more than likely my fault, and probably on a late breaking rise ball.

Honestly, there’s probably no way to break one of these in incorrectly? Have you ever taken a mallet or a dumbbell and really pounded the pocket to open it up?

If price is a non-issue, I would say order her a true custom Rawlings HOH mitt........but of course everyone will call me a Rawlings fanboy again!

I personally think the CMW3000 is an excellent mitt!

have to concur with AnnasDAD, DD (2007) uses a CMW3000, loves it, has great pop, and no issues with balls coming out receiving or making tag plays. I would see if you can open it up, beat the pocket, ,maybe even loosen the laces around pocket a bit. althouth what I found was that after getting it broken in, I had to tighten some of the laces a bit, maybe that is it, is ball popping out maybe because it is too loose, not too small?

Also, do not let your DDs coaches use their mitts. current coaches for DD all have hands about twice the size of hers. I am gooing to remind them all this weekend not to use her mitt to warm up a pitcher if Dd is occupied (one of them did it couple weeks ago while DD finished eating in between games, did not notice till her handed it to her to finish the warmup )

 

[jmdub]

Akadema has a Praying Mantis catchers mitt that supposedly snaps closed on contact due to the design.
They have a Fastpitch version but the baseball version looks much better to me. More padding and higher quality leather. The Turino series is their best line and then they have a Prosoft line I believe it’s called that breaks in quicker.
They send me one off offers now and again on Fastpitch mitts made with baseball leather but I haven’t been able to justify the purchase.
May be a good option especially if it helps alleviate drop 3rd strikes.

The Akadema FP gloves are garbage. Have tried both versions of the catchers mitt and both are sub-par.

Vinci are the best padding and are tanks. Great FP catchers glove. We have one of these all-stars and after a year and a half of trying to get it playable it finally works. It's been buried with a ball or two and wrapped and has a decent pocket. Definitely a different feel than other catchers gloves though.