Recently, the team at WhatProsWear released their findings from a comprehensive glove research study looking at brand and web choice amongst pros by position (previous studies didn’t compare year over year results). This report gathered data from 2013-2016 and contains detailed info that speaks to Rawlings’ success in getting the best in the game to use Rawlings. Some of it is just reconfirming things we already know, but it’s still interesting to see the specifics especially as they’ve changed each season.

Until 2016, both Wilson and Rawlings were on a steady climb, but in 2016 Rawlings (140 total gloves) picked up 21 gloves from 2015, while Wilson actually lost six gloves, going from 71 total gloves among 2015 MLB starters to 65 in 2016.

• The percentage of MLB that wears either Rawlings or Wilson has increased from 70% in 2013 to 85% in 2016, while Mizuno has remained at 7%-8%. Over that time, Rawlings and Wilson have eaten up whatever scraps left over from Nike and Louisville Slugger. Nike is decidedly uninterested in gloves, which probably explains their drop-off, and now that Louisville Slugger is owned by Wilson, a much stronger brand in the glove game, there is no reason for Slugger gloves to exist—so you likely won’t see any more guys wearing a Louisville Slugger besides Ben Revere and Travis Shaw (now with Milwaukee).

• The number of brands represented went from 12 to 9 from 2015 to 2016. I think the 12 number was an outlier, considering last year Preston Tucker wore an Old Hickory glove, which was the first time we’ve ever seen an Old Hick glove at any level. Easton, who’s parent company recently filed for bankruptcy, also dropped off the list after their only representative, Andre Ethier, broke his leg.

• In 2015, Wilson had the edge at 2B (17 to Rawlings’ 12) and RF (12 to Rawlings’ 9), the only positions where a brand other than Rawlings led the league. This year, Rawlings slipped past Wilson in the 2B category, 15 to 13. The shift was assisted by Chase Utley, who wore a gorgeous light tan Marucci for a few seasons, but went back to his old Rawlings in 2016. Jean Segura, former SS, moved over to second and simultaneously switched to a Rawlings from Wilson. Newcomers Whit Merrifield of the Royals and Ryan Schimpf of the Padres helped give Rawlings the edge at 2B.

• In RF, Rawlings took a commanding lead, 17 to Wilson’s 6, after trailing Wilson 12 to 9 in 2015, making it a clean sweep for Rawlings at every position. It should be noted that these are two different player groups—its not as if the same players are switching brands. The drastic change is mostly because of job turn-over in RF, which favored Rawlings in 2016.

• Nike is very clearly minimizing their footprint on the baseball glove market. One Nike-sponsored athlete told me at Spring Training last year that Nike had taken back the gloves that were given to him in years past. We noticed that, across the league, the few Nike position players remaining were moving into other brands (i.e. Andrew McCutchen to Rawlings, Matt Kemp to Rawlings). Only Ian Kinsler, Mike Trout, Peter Bourjos (looks like he’s got a Mike Trout hand-me-down), George Springer, Jay Bruce, Carlos Gonzalez, and Matt Holliday (who’s defensive days are behind him) still wear the Almighty Swoosh at positions other than pitcher.

• All-Star, the catcher’s specialty brand, held firm with 6 MLB starters in 2015 and 2016.

Source Rawlings Director of Marketing