Introduction

You might start your first baseball practice, and your parent or coach will give you a glove by saying you are the owner now. But you could not catch the ball with it at first; it’s stiff, which means you have less control over the glove, and you cannot move your finger in the direction you want. So here comes the concept of “break-in” that allows you to hold your control over the ball and makes a good catch. At first, it might not fit the bill in it, so you need to break in the glove to make it able to hold the ball as the ball falls in the pocket. It should also fit into your hands quickly. To enhance performance, you also need a good baseball cleats for you.

To break in your glove, you might need to use different things that make you surprised, like shaving cream, glove oil, and conditioner, or keep practicing the catching process. This article will tell you the method to break in your baseball/softball glove properly. So let’s come towards it.

How to Break in Your Glove Properly?

If you are on a mission to break—in your glove, then the following procedure will be an excellent option for you.

  1. First of all, you need to get a bottle of warm water. Be sure it is not at boiling point. Pour it into the palm of the gloves, but water should not reach the fingers. It is better to side up the finger. The warm water will help you to shape your glove by stretching leather.
  2. Hold the glove in a manner that the fingers are facing your chest. Grip the glove with the thumb and pinky and stretch every side up and down. It will make the pad soft, and you will be more close to winning the game.
  3. Hold the gloves from the top of the pinky and thumb and keep stretching it out. Suppose you want a tight finger, then no need to stretch more in the process. It would help if you did it once or twice to return to its original position when the glove becomes dry.
  4. Now take your sledgehammer and open the glove. This step will begin to form the pocket in your glove. First, you have to decide what kind of pocket you need to catch successfully; it should be shallow or deep. So that you have a set goal before you start making a pocket because it is necessary to catch the ball.
  5. Now close the glove and start beating it with the sledgehammer. It would be best if you pounded on the thumb side by shifting your globe up and down. Flip to the other side of the glove and start beating from the back by folding the pinky side of the glove. Be sure to determine your breakpoints that should not disturb the opening and closing of the glove.
  6. On the webtop, squeeze the glove down for a few seconds. Folding webtop will make it easy to close the glove and loose webtop laces.
  7. Play and practice to check how successful the breaking-in process is. If it is successful, you can go ahead; otherwise, you can do pounding on the sides that need it.

It was a technical method of break-in in your glove. However, you might do it with shaving cream, olive oil, and other home remedies. You can steam your baseball glove to shape it. However, this article presents the most successful method for you. Hopefully, it will benefit you, and you can take good catches with your break-in glove.