What Glove Does Aaron Judge Use?

All rise…

When we think of Aaron Judge, what comes to mind? I imagine that it’s probably the 52 long balls he hit during his rookie 2017 season or possibly his 62 homer performance and MVP campaign in 2022.

We also imagine that a less crystal clear image of Mr. Judge comes through when thinking of his work in the outfield.

Even if the lasting image of Judge is him striking a slightly open stance with baseball bat in hand while staring down a pitcher from the batter's box, he still looks to have top-of-the-line equipment when he's in the field. Because of that, Aaron looks to Rawlings for his ball glove needs when he’s patrolling the outfield in Yankee Stadium.

What size glove does Aaron Judge use?

12.75 inches is the choice of glove length for Aaron Judge. 

This makes sense as it appears that 12.75 inches is the most popular choice for outfielders once they get to high school age or older. You’ll notice as well that he uses a glove with an H-Web to it:

Shop The Aaron Judge Pro Preferred

In this writer’s opinion, the H-Web is a great selection for use in the outfield. In the big green ocean you want a glove that is lengthy (12.75 inches provides plenty of length) and one that can open wide. Because there is not a ton of lace running through an H-Web (especially when compared to a Modified T-Web), you can pull the pinky and thumb of the glove apart from one another when breaking in the glove to ensure that the catching surface is as wide as possible!

Another thing to notice is how Aaron wears his glove. You can see from the image above that about half of Aaron’s palm is coming out of the hand stall on his glove. For an outfielder especially, this is an advantageous way to wear your glove. It extends your reach in getting to fly balls. And unlike infielders, outfielders don’t have to worry about a rocket ground ball knocking the glove off of their hand due to half of the palm protruding out of the glove.

What type of Rawlings glove does Aaron Judge use?

Aaron reaches for one of Rawlings’ most illustrious lines of glove when it comes to his fielding needs: the Rawlings Pro Preferred. 

Pro Preferred gloves are going to be made with Kip Leather. We’ve dove in deep on Pro Preferred gloves in a past blog post. And in that post we explained that the presence of kip leather is the big factor in what makes Pro Preferred gloves considered to be of even higher quality than the Rawlings Heart of the Hide gloves…

“The shell leather of [Pro Preferred] gloves [is kip leather and] comes from a younger animal and is a little thinner and lighter in weight when compared to steerhide [used to build a Heart of the Hide]. Along with having less natural markings (due to the shorter life of the animal) the grain of kip leather can be said to have a higher-end look to it.”

Even though the kip leather from which Aaron’s Pro Preferred glove is made is thin and light, a Pro Preferred will usually require an investment of time in regard to the break-in process. Rawlings projects that a Pro Preferred glove will require about 70% of the break-in process to be completed by the player.

Before we move on, don’t forget the colors of the Judge glove. On his gamer, Aaron combines the navy and gray colors that compliment the Bronx Bombers' colorway extremely well. However, Aaron adds some subtle “pop” to his glove by adding purple embroidery and stitching to it.

Is Aaron Judge a good defender?

Good question…we think the following video can help provide some context before we answer directly:

WHAT CAN'T HE DO?! pic.twitter.com/C7YUsHmdCi

— MLB (@MLB) May 30, 2023

As you can see from the video, Aaron Judge is an incredible athlete and is going to use his Rawlings Pro Preferred to create some highlight reel plays each season.

And ultimately, yes, you could say that Aaron Judge is a good outfield defender. According to Baseball Reference’s dWAR rating in 2023, his defense has been worth 3.3 runs above a replacement level outfielder over the course of his career (which is more than enough considering his offensive contributions).

The highlight above shows Aaron at his absolute best while in the outfield and some might infer that he is even better than "good" due to that video. But often, defensive highlights can be misleading. Although Aaron plays a solid and serviceable brand of defense, there are a collection of professional outfielders who defensively contribute at a clip above Aaron.

Regardless though, Aaron has swagger covered when he takes his place in Yankee Stadium’s outfield with his Rawlings Pro Preferred at his side.

Where can you buy Aaron Judge’s glove?

You'll be happy to know that Aaron's gamer can be bought from the comfy confines of your home while shopping at the JustGloves site. Just go ahead and click the link below and in very little time, we'll have his glove in route to you!

Shop The Aaron Judge Pro Preferred

___

We hope that you've enjoyed our deep dive on Aaron Judge's glove. If you're still in need of questions being answered on a glove purchase, feel free to reach out to our team of dedicated Glove Experts. They can be reached via telephone at 866-321-4568 or you can email via experts@justgloves.com. Or the easiest way to connect is to do a LIVE CHAT through the website!