Sliding Mitts Are Baseball's 'Must-Have,' Even if at Youth Levels, They're All Fashion, No Function PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen hasn't had the conversation with 7-year-old son Steel yet ...

Steel, already playing in a youth baseball league ... Yet if Steel is hoping his father will spring for a sliding mitt — a padded glove a player can slip over one of their hands to protect ...

with a black sliding mitt noticeably sticking out of his left back pocket. Youth ballplayer Josiah Jones bats during a game in Monroeville, Pa., with his sliding matt in his back pocket on April ...

Steel, already playing in a youth baseball league ... Yet if Steel is hoping his father will spring for a sliding mitt — a padded glove a player can slip over one of their hands to protect ...

Youth ballplayer Grayson Cole, left, waits for his game to get underway with his Savannah Banana sliding mitt in his back pocket on April 27, 2025 in Monroeville, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar ...

That doesn’t stop the players from wanting a sliding mitt. It also doesn’t stop their parents from buying them, all part of the pressure to “keep up with the Jones” that has practically been a part of ...