MLB Position Players Gloves of Choice

Growing up I was always cognizant of the equipment that professional baseball players used, specifically the gloves/mitts. I actually remember getting my first Wilson A2000 in the sixth grade for Christmas even though it was the outfield model and I was an infielder.

Recently, I went through every starting lineup (position players only) in the MLB and looked at what glove they use, a total of 240 players. My findings can be seen in the chart above.

When it comes to position players, Rawlings seems to be the favorite. Rawlings has been around for years and it is a sponsor for Major League Baseball and created the Gold Glove Award. They have the Pro Preferred series as well as the Heart of the Hide Series, which seem to be the favorite among the pros. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriquez, and Albert Pujols are players who use Rawlings gloves.

Wilson also has their professional models, which seem to be popular among middle infielders and outfielders. These models are the A2000, A2K, and the A3000. The A2000 was released in 1957 and soon became the official glove of the MLB. It is still the most used Wilson glove in Major League Baseball today. Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Yasiel Puig, and Robinson Cano use the A2000 model. The A2K has not been around for many years, but has seen success among professional athletes. Brandon Phillips and Dustin Pedroia have their own models of the A2K. The A3000 was around for only a few years and was not too popular and has since been discontinued.

Mizuno has always been known for their high quality gloves but haven't seen the success that Wilson and Rawlings have. There are only a handful of Mizuno users still in the MLB such as Ichiro and Jimmy Rollins.

All-Star seems to be the glove of choice for catchers such as Yasmani Grandal and Salvador Perez. Odubel Herrera of the Phillies is the only non-catcher to use an All-Star glove.

Nike seems to be popular among pitchers and have recently gained popularity with position players. They have their Sha/Do and Vapor 360 models which are now used by Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Matt Kemp, Matt Holliday, George Springer, and Mike Trout.

Louisville Slugger and their TPX models have been somewhat popular in the MLB among pitchers and position players. Their most popular model is the Pro Flare.

SSK is a Japanese brand and is currently used by only 2 players; Pablo Sandoval and Leonys Martin, but is expected to be used by more in a few years.

Marucci is a well-known manufacturer of wooden bats and has recently introduced their fielding gloves. Current MLB players that use Marucci gloves are Chase Utley and Jose Bautista.