Best batting gloves for youth players

Does a kid actually need batting gloves?

Not to play. Nothing in Little League's rules requires them, and plenty of good young hitters do not wear them. But there are three situations where they earn their money, and two of them are common.

• Cold weather. A metal bat in 45 degree air stings, and a kid who is afraid of the sting stops swinging properly. This is the most common real reason a youth player wants gloves.
• Volume. Forty swings off a tee in a driveway raises a blister on the heel of an 8-year-old's hand. A blister means a week of not hitting.
• Grip. A tackified palm stops the bat rotating on a mishit, which matters more as bat speed goes up around 11 or 12.

What they are not is a performance upgrade. If a kid is missing the ball, gloves will not fix it; a bat that actually fits will. Start with the bat size chart.

Youth sizing, and the tee ball problem

Batting-glove sizing is a mess, and it is the reason most parents buy the wrong pair. “Youth” from one maker starts where “T-Ball” from another ends. Here is what the makers actually publish for the pairs on this page.

Measure across the palm, knuckle to knuckle, and check it against the maker's chart on the listing. A batting glove should be snug with no loose fabric at the fingertips: a loose glove slides on the handle, which is worse than no glove at all.

Leather or synthetic palm

This is the only meaningful build question. Leather grips better, especially tackified leather, and it lasts longer under heavy use. Synthetic costs less, dries faster and does not stiffen if the gloves live wet in the bottom of a bag, which is where youth batting gloves actually live.

The tell is the second layer. Rawlings describes the Workhorse as having a “reinforced palm with 2nd layer of leather,” and Easton describes the Walk-Off Ethos palm as “tackified full-grain leather, reinforced double-layer.” That doubled patch sits exactly where a kid's bottom hand wears through, which is why the double-layer pairs outlast the single-layer pairs by a season even though both are leather.

Our rule: leather if he hits more than twice a week or plays in a cold-spring league; synthetic if he plays one rec season and will have bigger hands by next March.

Before you buy

• Buy two pairs if he plays a lot. Not for performance. Because one pair will be in a wet bag in the car when the game starts.
• Dry them out of the bag. Leather palms stiffen and crack if they dry pressed flat under a helmet. Flat on a shelf, not in the bag.
• Snug, not tight. No loose fabric at the fingertips, and the strap should close across the wrist without the cuff bunching.
• Colour matters to a 9-year-old. This is the one piece of gear where letting him choose the colourway costs nothing and gets the gloves worn.
• Sizing runs small in youth lines. If he is between sizes and growing, take the larger one, but not two sizes up.