Specific recommendations for catcher's mitt, please!

[Twintrouble]

DD loves her Vinci catcher mitt, great padding and the pocket is one of the deepest I’ve ever seen. Not the biggest pocket. But you will never see a ball “pop” out of it.

Only down fall is they are a pain to brake in.

Vince runs specials often.

Basically got 3 gloves for a little over the price of 2 when they were on sale

 

[Tatonka]

Thats what I would have expected tbh. Lucky you are in winter already there so no rush

Ha, snowing like crazy out there right now, still a little sunburnt from their State game on Friday, both DD's bundled up and doing community service work outside this morning and a college showcase scheduled to start Friday.....Basketball starts next week...it'll be nice to be indoors!

 

[ANNASDAD]

A couple of quick comparison pics of my 33” JCV-22 and my 33.5” CMW3000. I personally don’t like the feel of broken in Vinci mitts the way they’re so small on the pinky side........ I guess the best way to explain it is, it’s like a fielders glove broken in thumb to wayyy up to index finger, hope that makes sense?

But I can definitely see why so many girls love them, the entire mitt is one big pocket! It’s definitely a deeper glove / pocket than that larger All-Star! I just like the single break heel more than the double break hinged heel of that Vinci. But that’s just a personal preference thing, both are excellent mitts!

 

[ArmWhip]

I use lanolin cream for breaking in gloves, it's recommended for conditioning leather and doesn't add weight like most oils do. You can find pure lanolin cream in the pharmacy, hint; it's used by nursing mothers to keep a sensitive part of their anatomy from getting chapped. Shaving cream contains lanolin.

I noticed something years ago about breaking in gloves that seems to go unnoticed. I was breaking in a glove for my daughter and after working on it for several weeks I had to adjust the length of the wrist strap. The glove still seemed pretty stiff. I unhooked the wrist strap and when it was disconnected I put it on my hand and was surprised at how easy it flexed. When you close a glove the first thing that happens is that the wrist strap tightens on the back of your hand, after that happens the heel has to collapse/compress or flex, to let the closing continue. If you loosen the wrist strap the glove closes easier but when it is open it will fall off your hand. So most of the softening in a glove needs to take place in the heel area, both on the hand side and the ball side.

One thing that I have done with several of my personal gloves is to place something elastic in the wrist strap chain, typically a hair tie. As I close the glove and the strap tightens the hair tie will stretch allowing the glove to close easier, yet in the open position there will still be enough tension to keep it on my hand.

 

[jmdub]

A couple of quick comparison pics of my 33” JCV-22 and my 33.5” CMW3000. I personally don’t like the feel of broken in Vinci mitts the way they’re so small on the pinky side........ I guess the best way to explain it is, it’s like a fielders glove broken in thumb to wayyy up to index finger, hope that makes sense?

But I can definitely see why so many girls love them, the entire mitt is one big pocket! It’s definitely a deeper glove / pocket than that larger All-Star! I just like the single break heel more than the double break hinged heel of that Vinci. But that’s just a personal preference thing, both are excellent mitts!
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easy to see why you prefer the all-star. The Vinci is a dual hinge and it looks like it's being squeezed like a single hinge (what the all-star is).

 

[ANNASDAD]

easy to see why you prefer the all-star. The Vinci is a dual hinge and it looks like it's being squeezed like a single hinge (what the all-star is).

Is yours completely square at the heel (even break on both sides)? I bought that Vinci not completely broken in from a family who's DD decided she was done playing, bought it specifically for our HS catcher last year, she's really the only one who's used it!

I've taken it along with the All-Star to 4 or 5 of Anna's pitching lessons and just never really liked it, I always switched back to the All-Star during the lesson!

 

[Helkat]

Okay, so here are some pics of her AS CMW-3000 and a non-broken-in Rawlings Liberty Advanced
Do you think I should work on trying to pound out the heel area of her AS??

 

[jmdub]

Okay, so here are some pics of her AS CMW-3000 and a non-broken-in Rawlings Liberty Advanced
Do you think I should work on trying to pound out the heel area of her AS??

yes a little, but really that glove is designed to be thinner in that spot already. If you want opinions, I'd take a 12" ball and move it down more to the palm area and then wrap the glove witha neoprene wrap (or two). The constant pressure/stretch of the neoprene will help the glove a ton. You really are breaking in the palm of the glove and not the heel. If the heel is too stiff you will want to open it up and modify the felt that's in there.

 

[jmdub]

Is yours completely square at the heel (even break on both sides)? I bought that Vinci not completely broken in from a family who's DD decided she was done playing, bought it specifically for our HS catcher last year, she's really the only one who's used it!

I've taken it along with the All-Star to 4 or 5 of Anna's pitching lessons and just never really liked it, I always switched back to the All-Star during the lesson!

No. But more equal between both hinges. We then center a break in the heel pad to get just enough squeeze in the right place.

 

[jmdub]

Here’s one after the relace. And then for anyone wanting to know if steaming does anything bad to a glove look at the all black one and how wrinkled the leather got after steaming. Gloves wore differently all summer.