[ad_1]
Every year, back to 2013, we track the top glove brands worn by MLB starters. As far as starting MLB players are concerned (excluding pitchers), Rawlings continues to hold a firm vice grip amongst glove brands, appearing on 53% of starting Major Leaguers. Meanwhile, the other major player, Wilson, gained three percent in 2023 compared to 2022 while Rawlings dropped 2 points. Still, there’s a healthy margin between the two, and an even bigger gap exists between the top two and the rest of the pack. 44Pro leapt over Mizuno for third place, with seven Big Leaguers donning the California-based brand.
Before we get into the data breakdowns, what do you wear?
2023 MLB Starters Glove Usage, Powered by Franklin Sports
(Disclaimer: Franklin Sports was not involved in our data collection.)
In these reports, WPW tracks MLB starters excluding pitchers, based on Baseball-Reference.com’s team pages with a few additions. Here are the results, starting with the leader, Rawlings Sports.
Rawlings Gloves | Worn by 53% of MLB Starters (-2% since 2022)
Rawlings remains the #1 glove brand among position players. They command over half of starters in MLB, and they have since at least 2013 when our data collection began.
Rawlings has a long list of stars that wear its gloves, including latest platinum glover Fernando Tatis Jr., 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., and 2022 World Champion Kyle Tucker.
Wilson Gloves | Worn by 37% of MLB Starters (+3% since 2022)
Wilson jumped up three percentage points to claim one out of every three MLB starting position players, approximately the same as last year (34%). Fresh off the WBC where he represented Dominican Republic, Julio Rodriguez stuck with his trusty A2000 all season long.
Here are some more MLB stars who wear Wilson gloves:
44 Pro Gloves | Worn by 3% of MLB Starters (+1% since 2022)
Leapfrogging Mizuno into the bronze spot for 2023 was 44 Pro gloves, seeing their usage bump up by a percentage point from the season prior. It has been most popular amongst outfielders, with Alex Verdugo having laid out for a number of gems throughout the year.
Other Glove Brands Worn by MLB Starters
Mizuno and SSK were tied for their presence amongst starters. Austin Riley continued to remain loyal to the RunBird, referencing how it was his first ever ball glove and reveres the brand for their quality.
Alex Bregman continued to add to his decorated career in his Marucci leather. Christopher Morel was another stud rocking the M label, this time in a pretty fun pre-game color way that he gave WPW exclusive, in-hand access to.
The catcher’s mitt game followed suit with the rest of the position players’ by being Rawlings-dominant, with the rest of the league’s backstops being pretty evenly split: three with Mizuno, two apiece for All-Star and Wilson, and Yasmani Grandal staying true to his Force3 brand.
New Balance set up Shohei Ohtani with a glove for the bump this season, relegating his Asics leather to the shelf. Ha-Seong Kim became the first Korean player and the first Asian position player to win a Major League Baseball (MLB) Gold Glove Award, and did so rocking World Pegasus.
Web Choice
The I-Web is the king of the the infield, as 8 out of 10 middle infielders choose it, including Gold Glovers Dansby Swanson and Andrés Giménez. The rest are split between the H-Web (11% / Carlos Correa, Brandon Crawford), single post (8% / Trea Turner, Gunnar Henderson) and the one-piece (< 1% / CJ Abrams, Orlando Arcia).
The H-Web is the outfield leader and may always be. It mirrored its lion’s share from last season at 79%, worn by Gold Glover Luis Robert, Platinum card holder Kevin Kiermaier, Juan Soto, and Christian Yellich. The trap came in third place with guys like Harrison Bader and Mike Trout running it back in 2023, as did back-to-back Gold Glover Steven Kwan. The single post and modified trap also had a few Big League starters.
Here’s the full breakdown by position:
What do you think about the MLB data? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
[ad_2]
Source link
