Wilson Spin Control Technology

Wilson Sporting Goods has an impressive propensity for knowing how to push glove technology forward. In 1997, baseball legend Barry Bonds tasked Wilson with creating a “lighter outfield glove…that met [his] needs without sacrificing pocket stability and performance.” They were up to the task and created their SuperSkin material that is still in use on baseball gloves today.

 

Just 4 years later in 2001, they felt like they needed to provide an upgrade to their legendary 50-year-old glove series, the A2000. They loved their Pro Stock leather used for A2000s, but they wondered if they could guarantee customers the absolute best of their Pro Stock material every time on a glove. They decided to implement a system for triple-sorting Pro Stock leather and then pulling out the top 5% after the sorting process was complete. Wilson made the decision that the gloves made from that top 5% would be known as the A2Ks, the absolute best quality of gloves you could get from Wilson.

 

In 2018, they continued their tradition of innovation when they delivered a technology rarely seen in baseball gloves before that time: Spin Control.

 

 

Wilson’s Spin Control tech exists in the form of thousands of dimples on the palm, fingers and web leather of a Wilson A2000 or A2K glove.

 

In 2018, Wilson had been thinking about using their SnakeSkin embossing on the palm surface of gloves to battle the spin of the baseball or softball. But around that same time, their Senior Glove Designer, Ryan Smith, received a sample glove from Wilson’s factory displaying the dimpled design we are now accustomed to seeing on Spin Control gloves. Smith took a baseball and tossed it into the glove and noted that the ball “quickly stuck to the [dimpled] leather and settled into the pocket”.

 

The observations made by Ryan Smith would be supported by experts in leather and aerodynamics. After running tests, it was confirmed that Spin Control technology would decrease the spin of a baseball or softball by up to 5% during a catch.

 

That 5% doesn’t sound like much at face value, but it could be the difference between a ball sticking or falling out of a glove during a diving catch with the game on the line. Further, the decrease in spin on a ball caused by the presence of Spin Control should make it easier for a player to make a transfer of a ball from their glove to their throwing hand.

 

Believe it or not, gloves that featured dimpling on the palm catching surface existed as far back as the 1970s. The process for dimpling baseball gloves was developed in the late 70s by the Japanese baseball sporting goods company, SSK. That process received a US patent in 1982 and dimpled baseball gloves were approved for use by professional baseball in 1983. And for a time after that, SSK literally called their series of their gloves with this technolgy, the  “Dimple”.

 

Here at JustGloves, we even carried the SSK Tensai series within the last 10 years and it featured the circle dimple pattern as can be seen below:

 

 

Even though dimpled gloves existed long before Wilson implemented them, Wilson did appear to give the technology their own unique twist. That twist was that they added it to every portion of the glove's catching surface. This differs from the tech added by SSK which only encompassed a circle around the pocket of the glove. When you look at a Wilson glove featuring Spin Control, you’ll notice that the dimpling covers all of the palm, all of fingers and all of the web. Take a look at how Spin Control exists on a Wilson glove in the above image.

 

The resounding answer when it comes to having Spin Control on a glove is that it won’t make you a better fielder, but having it on your glove definitely won’t hurt you.

 

Chris Bangert, aka the Ball Glove King, did a review on the technology in 2022 and came away noting that when you closely compare a glove with Spin Control next to one that doesn’t have the tech, you can tell the difference between the two. The Spin Control glove will ever-so-slightly prevent a ball from spinning out of the glove’s grasp better than a glove lacking Spin Control. And when you think about it, Wilson only promises a 5% decrease in spin rate when the advancement is present on a glove. It appears that they do deliver on what they initially promised.

 

And overall, Chris commends Wilson for furthering the innovation dimpled baseball gloves. He believes that if the presence of Spin Control on your glove improves your confidence that less balls will spin out of your grasp while fielding, then you should go with the technology and enjoy the freedom of mind while playing. However, he notes that it’s not a necessity for a glove. Check out the full review below:

 In 2024,Kyle Diangkinay of What Pros Wear gave the technology a similar review as Chris Bangert. Kyle’s review was put most succinctly when he said “Spin Control isn’t going to be a reason why you get the glove, but it’s also not going to be the reason why you don’t get it”. Check out Kyle’s full review on IG below:

 

 

We hope that now you know more about Wilson’s Spin Control technology than you did when you began this article! If you still have questions, feel free to do a LIVE CHAT with one of our agents right now!