Can You Use A Baseball Glove For Softball?

Every spring, as soon as the flowers bloom and the snow melts, our Glove Experts receive calls from players asking us if it’s alright for them to use a baseball glove in a slow pitch game. After all, it is a natural progression to play slowpitch softball once your baseball career has come to an end.

Definitely keep reading if you just hung up your baseball cleats for the final time as we'll break down the pros and the con of using your baseball glove in slowpitch softball games.

The PROS

You Already Own A Baseball Glove:

If you just gave up baseball, then you most likely still have your baseball glove with you. As well, chances are that you've had the glove for a few seasons and you're skilled at using it. 

You could spend money and buy a new glove for slow pitch softball. But then in addition to having less cash, you will also have to worry about breaking that new one in. If you just stick with your existing glove, it will already be broken in and you will be familiar with the glove you are using right from that first underhand pitch.

[You might be so familiar with your old baseball
glove that there is no sense in giving it up]

Now, there is a chance that the sizing of your baseball glove could be a bit off depending upon the position that you're playing. But, we will cover that a little later!

The Baseball Glove Fits Your Hand Perfectly:

We touched on this a little bit in the above section, but the glove from your hardball days is most likely broken in. And when a glove's leather is softened up, the inside of the glove is most likely formed perfectly to your hand.

The Glove Cowboy from Marucci says that "A glove is the only thing that...the more your hand goes into it, the more the leather responds to you." Basically, the more often that you put on any glove (baseball, fastpitch or slow pitch), the more the hand slot will shape to the contours of your hand and the way that you close it. 

The chances are that your existing glove already knows your hand perfectly. And there may be no need to end that beautiful relationship!

The CON

The Sizing For Slow Pitch Softball:

The main concern that arises with wearing a baseball glove in a softball game is the sizing. Especially on the infield, baseball gloves are designed with shorter lengths (11.5 inches is very common for baseball infielders).  The reason baseball infield gloves are made with shorter lengths is that quickly pulling a baseball (9 inch circumference) out of a glove longer than 11.75 inches can be difficult.

However, a slow pitch ball is very large (12 inch circumference) and it is very hard for that size of ball to get lost in a glove sized 12 inches to 13 inches. Because of that, you'll find slow pitch infielders wearing long gloves. The added benefit of these longer gloves is that players will have an increased amount of range.  Younger players will be able to cover more area when laying out or diving for a softball and an older player will not have to bend or crouch as much when extending to field a ground ball.

CONCLUSION

Yes, you can use a baseball glove for softball. But be sure to take a minute to think about the baseball glove you already own and what your defensive role will be on the slow pitch field.

If you still have a second base, short stop or third base glove from your days of playing hardball, then you might consider getting a larger glove for softball. As we mentioned above, you can get away with a 12 inch to 13 inch glove on the infield of a slow pitch softball diamond. You might as well take advantage of all the glove length that you can get!

But if you played outfield during your baseball days and still have your glove with you, then you are set!

[A 12.5 Inch Baseball Glove Like The One Above
Should Transition Seamlessly To Softball]

That outfield model is most likely somewhere between 12.5 inches and 13 inches and should be able to handle any position on the infield or in the outfield of a slow pitch diamond. You might notice that some slow pitch teammates are using 13.5 inch, 14 inch and 15 inch gloves in the outfield, but it is not a necessity to have a glove of those extremely long lengths.

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If you still have some more detailed questions about the glove you can use for slow pitch softball, do no hesitate to reach out to the team of Glove Experts that we have assembled to help customers. They can be reached on phone at 866-321-4568, through email via experts@justgloves.com or by LIVE CHAT right here.