Why a fielders glove?
I’m normally a first baseman, but I can still run and judge fly balls, so I moved to the outfield when I’m not needed to pitch. There, a first baseman’s mitt, like my previous mitt, isn’t as useful — a big basket is optimal, and the 13-inch length of this mitt is far more suited to running catches. The Mizuno MVT 1300 (“Professional Model”) boasts a tight weave in the basket, sturdy leather ties linking the fingers, and what they call a “custom formed pocket,” but what I call a huge area with room for (minor) errors in judgment. This glove is also rather well-padded. With my old mitt, I would wear a batting glove underneath since missing the pocket just slightly brought a bit of pain with it, and it took a few baby steps before I could break that habit and realize that one, it’s fairly thick in the pocket, and two, I’m catching a softball, not a baseball. In any case, Mizuno named this technology, too, calling it “Para Shock – Less Rebound and Less Shock”. Whatever – it’s comfortable