44Pro Gloves

44Pro Gloves is the front runner for custom gloves (and guards and what not...). They are the Blackpink of baseball gloves; they are the revolution. They make high quality baseball gloves and they kind of mesh all different brands and their characteristics and make the ultimate custom glove for you. This means that you can bring in characteristics from Nike ShaDo, A2K and SSK and make a glove. 44Pro will be the only company that can do it at such a high quality. Now it seems like they are the ultimate glove brand with a lot of positives but there are also some negatives like any other glove company out there. I will be discussing the pros and cons of each pattern in the links below. I will discuss some general pros and cons of 44Pro Signature Series Gloves on this page (pattern specific pages are to be updated in a later date).

Now for general characteristics of 44Pro Gloves. A lot of glove accounts on YouTube compare 44Pros with HOH and I can't really feel that or make sense out of that because I would actually compare them with Rawlings Pro Preferreds. This is due to the fact that the materials are so similar: Signature Series come in Kip Leather and Sheepskin Palm lining and that is what Pro Preferred also uses. The big difference I felt when comparing the Pro Preferred and the Signature Series was how 'hard and dry' to the touch 44Pro Gloves were even after I condition my gloves. When I think of kip leather gloves, I think of soft to touch and for some reason cools my throwing hand when I put that hand in the glove. That is what I have experienced with Pro Preferred Gloves and Kachi's (a glove brand from Taiwan) Kip Gloves. Other than the fact that even the Oiled Chestnut feels dry, the leather that 44Pro uses for their Signature Series is of very high quality. If the glove is conditioned with the right conditioning oil for the right frequency, it will feel even better. 

44Pro Gloves make gloves with mesh and leather inserts for the back of the glove. I ordered a glove with the old mesh where you can see a lot of rectangles in the mesh. They currently have mesh that is tighter in grain and I love the look of that. I would highly recommend the new mesh since it looks better but I have not felt it so I do not have a great perspective on the new mesh material. I do wish that you can combine the C2 leather and the Signature Series Leather like the Pro Label 1 I used to have (it felt incredible and I wish Rawlings can include that as a custom option someday). Although I am sure they will be willing to do that, I have not asked myself so I actually would not know.
44Pro Gloves' laces stay true to the phrase "hit-or-a-miss". Their colored laces have some sort of coating on them and some colors change color to a lighter color when exposed to water (this was what happened to my orange laces from 44 when I played in a rainy day). I also had maroon laces and those were a little better than the orange laces but they were thin even on the web and fingers which was not something I trusted even though it was a pitcher's glove. This is why I recommend you order with black, brown, camel or tan laces if you do not intend on re-lacing your glove. You can also take the risk in getting laces of "not so great quality" but in color and re-lace them in the future to "better" laces.  

They also added a breathable non-fur option (Moisture Wicking Performance Wrist Pad) a while ago and it does not rank high on my list. I have tried the Wilson Dri-Lex, Thermo Formed from Rawlings and this wrist pad provided by 44. I would rank them in this order from most comfortable to "uncomfortable" respectively. I played with gloves with this material in both Japan and in the US and the 44Pro Wrist Pad seems to absorb sweat but not keep your hand cool (unlike the Dri-Lex and Thermo Formed). I think most likely is due to the fact that there is almost no air flow between the wrist and the wrist pad. So if I can include improvements and if 44 will listen, I would suggest making some space for air to travel on the wrist pad especially because if the sweat and heat is absorbed due to the wrist pad, there's really no place to go since the wrist is made of leather (unless the wrist is made completely out of mesh and I don't know how that'll work).

44Pro has exceptional customer service. They will always listen to you and try to do their best in order to make your dream glove. I have asked for custom options that pertain with glove patterns before they even came out (I ordered a JP11, a 574 and a CB44 before they released them as standard patterns) so they can make new patterns come true if you ask for them (although I think they covered a lot of ground in terms of patterns at this point). Although they will try their best, there are also some things that they cannot do. One of them was no palm stamping. I wanted the palms to look like the Marucci Capitol/Cypress Series Gloves because I thought they looked so clean but you can't really do that because of a "branding reason" (UPDATED 10/8: 44Pro has released the option of no indents in the palm and many more custom options. I do think that this was in tandem with the new line of Maruccis coming out, but I think they finally took my advice). Another option is on the CB44, the hole cannot go on the middle finger. I thought this was interesting because I have seen gloves made by Japanese players like Yu Darvish (Chicago Cubs) and Louis Okoye (Tohoku Rakuten Eagles) with a closed back model with a middle finger hole. 44 has also forgotten to put a key chain on my glove on multiple occasions (3 or 4) and I asked them about it and they did not respond. I just thought that was not very professional and I thought that was worth writing.

One option they may want to explore is the wide hinge pattern seen in Rawlings NP and TT2 (AK2) patterns and the Kubota Slugger L5 pattern. Neither 44Pro Gloves or @sdgloves on Instagram have not responded to me about the possibility of making a wide hinge pattern. In all honesty, I think they should develop that model sooner than later because I can see it being a favorable option for some ball players (and the pattern exists! Just get a Wilson 1716 or a Rawlings NP and examine them!)
Final thoughts: 44Pro Gloves make great gloves overall and they look very sharp on the diamond. They listen to you and can make a dream configuration for a glove as long as they are able to do it. I stopped ordering 44s because of the updates that they do for their gloves every 3 to 4 months and I think that's great and I think it should happen. I also find it funny how they do an update a day after I make my glove and I'm thinking "I really wanted to add that on my glove but now I can't..." I also do not know where these gloves are being made (I haven't been to 44's HQ in San Diego). I have seen a stamp that says "Made in Philippines" but I am not sure myself if it's the leather or the whole glove itself. I will give 44Pro a green light overall, but I also do think that some patterns should be avoided. I will update the patterns that should be avoided first and do the patterns I prefer for last. 
Follow @baseball.mn for updates on pages for the different glove patterns! I will be posting them on my story and I may also update them on my IG feed!

Wilson: A2000 vs. A2K

Wilson A2000 vs A2K: Pro Stock vs. Pro Stock Select. Different palm liner. Presence of palm "padding". There are a lot of differences between the two series of gloves, with a $100 difference. I use an A2000 when I play middle infield and I have used an A2K at the hot corner. I also do want to point out that I only use Wilson in the infield and I never used one in the outfield. The reason to that is because I feel like Wilson gloves play an eighth to a quarter inch shorter than Rawlings gloves due to the Dual Welting. This is a characteristic that is unique to Wilson at such a high quality; other glove companies can mimic Wilson but they seem to miss the mark. The dual welting may sacrifice length but it definitely will give you a nice round pocket which is why I choose Wilson in the infield.

The A2000 has the same leather for the palm liner as it has for all around the glove (or as so it feels). It also does not have the palm padding seen in the A2K and they also use pro stock leather. The leather despite the fact that it is “a lower quality” feels great and is comparable to a stock HOH. The lack of the palm padding allows for a thinner pocket and the lack of “dots” as the glove is used. The "dots" will be discussed in the A2K section but the thin palm liner allows for an ease in finding the ball in your glove when fielding a ground ball. I make four pockets in my glove, right under the web, right on the web, on the ring finger and right on the logo indent (for most gloves. In the case of Maruccis, just make the pocket right in the middle of the palm) and wherever the ball is in my glove, I know where it is. The ease to break-in Wilsons make these pockets easy to make in my opinion so if you are looking for a glove that can break in rather quickly but still last you a long time, A2000 could be your go-to (uploaded 10/7/2019, Rawlings HOH and PP logs are not up so wait if you are thinking of comparing Rawlings and Wilson)

The A2K uses higher quality leather (Pro Stock Select) compared to the A2000 and also has a more comfortable palm liner and the palm “padding” to prevent bubbling in the palm. In all honesty cannot feel the higher quality in leather. If there is any difference, it is not as obvious as a Pro Preferred compared to a Heart of the Hide. Bottom line here, the leather quality in A2000 and A2K are that similar. The palm padding does allow for less bubbling in the palm. But like all other gloves, if you try to squeeze the glove as hard as you can while it is stiff, bubbles will form. After observing several gloves on second-hand websites (such as Round2, eBay, SidelineSwap, etc), there tends to be a presence of bubbles on the ring finger more than any other finger. Although this is a characteristic of most used gloves, I see it more in Wilsons and in fact my A2000 does have a slight bubble in the ring finger. I have also had an individual DM me on Instagram a picture of an A2K with a large bubble in the palm, specifically on the ring finger. The A2K padding does not prevent that bubble on the ring finger, but it does the job when it comes to the bubbling in the palm where the A2K indent is on the palm. The downside with the padding is that as you use the glove (especially on lighter colored A2Ks like Blonde or Copper), there will be dark dots forming due to the holes in the padding under the palm leather. This in all honesty looks like the glove has developed chicken pox and there is really no solution to getting rid of these dots as far as I am aware of. If you are thinking of getting an A2K, I would highly recommend a black palmed A2K for this reason.

Ending thoughts: The $100 difference in A2Ks and A2000s are not as simple as the difference in leather. One interesting observation I have made with Wilson gloves is that they break in a lot faster compared to Heart of the Hides. I thought HOHs were easy to break in since I was able to play catch with them after a mallet session and I have owned an HOH before I owned a Wilson glove. In the case of both my A2000 and A2K, I took the tags off and I took them to the field and tossed with it and got some ground balls without any issues at all (if I made an error, that was my fault; not the glove's). Again, the dual welting allows for a rounder pocket due to the reinforcement with the welting. This is why I like to use Wilson in the middle infield with the round and "smaller" pocket. I also think that Wilson gloves are very light compared to Rawlings Gloves and I am not sure how I feel about that. This is because I have heard multiple instances of the plastic thumb and pinky inserts breaking in Wilson gloves. Sacrificing weight also sacrifices durability to a certain degree so what I would advise you to do is not not flare out your gloves at a 90 degree angle (for any glove but especially for Wilsons). Excessive flaring of the outer fingers will hinder the longevity of the glove inserts and even the glove itself.

My choice: A2000. Cost performance wise, the A2000 is a lot worth your money. Although A2Ks are nice, they are overrated in my opinion. A lot of my teammates I have had in the past that use A2Ks think they are great players but in reality they aren't so I take my personal experience in this choice as well.