Can You Use Baseball Batting Gloves For Other Sports?

Baseball batting gloves are worn by some and not worn by others. They offer benefits, and I like to use a pair such as the Franklin Sports Batting Gloves. As they look like most pairs of sport gloves, it begs the question of whether you can use them for other sports?

To answer this question, I need to review each sport in question individually as sports do have differences, and not all equipment used can mix.

Related: What Is A Baseball Sliding Mitt? (& Best Sliding Mitts)

Can You Use Baseball Batting Gloves for Other Sports?

Whether you can use baseball gloves for golf, football, and softball are the most asked sports, so that’s exactly what you’ll find below. I’ll start with golf.

1. Golf

In short, you can use baseball batting gloves for golf as they are somewhat similar. However, you must have golf-specific gloves when competing under the USGA rules. If you are anything more than an occasional hobbyist in golf, you should get golf gloves as they are less thick and bulky.

In most cases, you CAN use batting gloves for the sport, but you SHOULDN’T if you want to optimize the performance. However, in golf, you can do it better when compared to other sports.

All in all, try it out and see how you feel as everyone is different, and I have heard both points of view that you shouldn’t or that you can easily use batting gloves for golf.

2. American Football

Generally, you can use baseball batting gloves for football, but it isn’t recommended. This is because batting gloves are much thicker and less sticky, which will affect the football player’s performance in throwing, receiving, and carrying the ball.

If you are starting football out, you can use batting gloves for it as it’s better than no gloves. However, I highly suggest that you get football gloves because you will need thinner and stickier construction if you want the optimal ball handling you can get.

Football gloves aren’t good for batting either as the gloves stick to the bat, which will slow down the launch from the home base to the first. In addition, football gloves aren’t as thick, which would make the post-impact vibration worse.

3. Softball

Baseball and softball batting gloves are identical except for one thing, design. Typically, baseball gloves are made to fit a man’s hand and a softball glove for a woman’s hand. Thus, if the baseball batting glove fit’s your hand as a softball player, you can use it without any issues or lack in performance.

If you find that the batting glove doesen’t fit well on your hand, don’t use it. A batting glove that fit’s your hand poorly will cause worse grip, lack of secure feel, and in the worst case, it can slip off. That’s not something you want to happen when you are two strikes down at-bat.

Why to Wear Batting Gloves and Are They Important?

Baseball batting gloves are used for batting, as you might be able to guess from the name. However, why they are used and what makes them important is a more complicated answer if you aren’t familiar with them. Let’s take a closer look.

Batting gloves are important to maximize your performance and comfort when at-bat. Batting gloves will provide you with more grip, a comfortable feel, and protection to your hands. This makes your swings better and your confidence higher.

Now, it’s important to understand how batting gloves improve these things and why it is so important in a more in-depth way. I’ll walk you through it.

1. Grip

First and foremost, batting gloves are designed to improve your grip when you are batting.

The gloves are designed as sticky, some more than others, but the main point is that the bat will be held on your hands without any movement.

This way, you can hit the baseball with more accuracy, speed, and power.

2. Feel

As I previously mentioned, baseball batting gloves are thicker than other sports gloves, and there is a reason.

If you have played baseball, you know that the post-impact vibrations can sting a bit, depending on where the baseball will hit your bat and at what speed.

Anyways, as the batting gloves are thick and reinforced from the right places, your comfort and feel will be better, including reduced pain from post-impact vibrations.

3. Protection

Finally, batting gloves are made for protection as well. When you are done with batting, it’s common to leave them on when advancing bases.

When you are sprinting from base to base, there will be sliding, diving, explosive movements, and so on. It isn’t rare to get cuts, abrasions, and wounds on your palms.

With any wounds on your palms, your grip strength won’t be the same, which decreases the quality of your whole swing.

Can an Adult Use Youth Baseball Glove?

There are youth and adult sizes in everything from shoes to clothes, including baseball gloves. If you have an unusually small hand that would fit inside a youth glove, could you use it without compromising comfort, performance, and other things?

Youth baseball gloves are designed for players under 12-years old with smaller hands, where they will typically start using adult gloves. However, if your glove size is very small at an older age, you can most definitely use a youth glove if it fits you well.

The only difference here would be some saved money as youth gloves are less expensive. Although, you should be certain that the glove does fit well in your hand because a tight glove will make your hand ache.

How Should a Baseball Batting Glove Fit?

When trying on clothes, shoes, or baseball batting gloves, it’s tough to decide whether they fit well as you don’t know the long feel. So, how should a baseball batting glove fit?

A baseball batting glove should fit tightly, yet they are comfortable and mobile. Too tight batting gloves won’t allow the full range of motion and can squeeze your hands, so blood flow and comfort aren’t optimal. On the other hand, too loose gloves will slip off and affect your performance.

Think about fitting batting gloves like shoes. You want them to be secure and tight on your feet, so they won’t move too much and supports your leg. However, you need to have room for your toes to move around without squeezing your feet.