The best baseball glove for kids 5-7

What size glove for a 5-, 6- or 7-year-old

Ten to eleven inches, and the half-inch inside that band is set by age rather than by how tall the kid is. Rawlings publishes the table this comes from, and it is the same table every maker roughly follows:

Note what is not on that list: 11.5 in and up. Those are 10- to 12-year-old sizes, and on a six-year-old they are a glove he fights rather than a glove he uses. The full age-and-position table, including what comes next, is on the baseball glove size chart by age.

What changes between 5 and 7

Two things, and together they explain why this band gets its own page rather than sharing one with tee ball.

1. The ball starts moving. At five the ball sits on a tee. By seven a coach is throwing it, and a glove that was fine as a catching mitt now has to hold a ball that arrives with some pace. That is the jump from 10 in to 11 in.
2. His hand gets strong enough to close a glove. At five, squeezing a glove shut is genuinely hard, and the gloves that work are the ones built to fold easily. By seven that has stopped being the limit, and leather quality starts to matter more than flex.

That is why the top two picks here are the same glove in two sizes. A five-year-old and a seven-year-old are not shopping for the same thing, even though both are inside “kids 5-7”.

How these were ranked

Every size, web pattern, material and break-in rating on the cards is quoted from the maker's own product page, with the link on each spec row. The ranking follows the published glove rubric, in weight order:

1. Size fit for the age (30%). Is it inside the 10 to 11 in band, and does the maker tag it for this age? The glove at the top of this page is the one Rawlings itself labels 5-7.
2. Ease of close for small hands (25%). The thing that decides whether a 5-year-old catches anything. A Rawlings Player Break-In rating of 10 means game-ready; anything stiffer is a glove he will not close this season.
3. Leather and build quality (15%). As published. It matters less here than at 10 or 12, because most gloves bought at this age are outgrown before they wear out.
4. Break-in effort (15%). Less is better at this age, full stop.
5. Value (15%). Price against the number of seasons the glove can plausibly cover.

The weights are published on how we pick youth baseball gear.

The squeeze test

This is the only test that matters in this age band, and it beats any chart including the one above. A 7-year-old with small hands is happier in the 10.5 in than in the 11 in, whatever his birthday says.

One glove or two across this band

Most families buy twice: a 10 in at five, an 11 in at seven. You can usually make it one if you buy at six. A 10.5 in bought for a six-year-old covers the end of tee ball and the first coach-pitch season, which is the cheapest honest path through this band.

Buying at five is different. A 10 in is right for a five-year-old and will be too small by seven, so budget for the second glove rather than buying a big one he cannot close. If he is still in tee ball and nothing else, the narrower list is on best tee ball gloves for 4- to 6-year-olds; the next rung up is best baseball gloves for an 8-year-old.

Break-in at this age

Rawlings prints a Player Break-In number on its glove pages, 0 for game-ready and 100 for stiff pro leather, and it is the most useful figure a parent can get before buying. Both Sure Catch gloves here are a 10. That means catch in the yard the evening the box arrives.

Anything that needs real break-in is the wrong glove for a five-year-old, because the break-in is done by catching balls and he cannot catch balls with a glove that will not shut. If you do end up with a stiff one, the method that works is on how to break in a baseball glove.

One ordering note that catches a lot of parents: if your kid throws with his left hand he wears the glove on his right, and the listing you want says “left hand throw”. Why that wording trips people up is on left-handed youth gloves explained.

Before you buy

1. Buy to his age inside the band, not to the top of it. 10 in at five, 10.5 at six, 11 at seven. The extra half inch is not a bargain if he cannot close it.
2. Do the squeeze test. One hand, no ball, thumb to little finger.
3. Look for a strap he can work himself. A Velcro or adjustable back means he can tighten the glove without finding an adult first, which at this age is the difference between wearing it and carrying it.
4. Check the throwing hand twice. “Right hand throw” means the glove goes on the left hand.
5. Take the game-ready glove over the better leather. At five and six the glove that closes beats the glove that lasts, every time.

A word on the prices you see here

The numbers on the cards are pulled live and they move, so read them as brackets: the Rawlings Players Series sits alone at the bottom, the Wilson A450 and the Flex Palm next, and the two Sure Catch gloves and the Easton Ghost Flex at the top of what is still a modest range. Check the number on the card on the day you order.

Side by side

Same shell, same strap, half an inch apart, and that is the entire decision for most families. Take the 10.5 in at five or six. Take the 11 in at seven, or at six if he is big and already in coach pitch.