I remember when I was first starting to learn baseball and starting to learn about all the different types of equipment I could use while playing. The one piece of equipment I always wanted to get was batting gloves because my hands would always sweat and it was difficult to swing the bat. But I had a common question a lot of people have when trying batting gloves for the first time – what hand do you wear a batting glove on?
Players typically wear a batting glove on both hands when hitting. Players who only use one batting glove will generally wear their batting glove on their bottom hand, which is the hand closest to the knob of the bat.
This can be confusing at first, especially if you’re like me and you were also learning to play golf at the same time. In golf, players wear one glove and that glove is typically worn on their upper hand, which is completely different for baseball players who wear one glove. Keep reading to learn about the different ways baseball and softball players can wear their batting gloves.
If you’re in the market for batting gloves, I recommend looking at the high-quality batting gloves made by Bruce Bolt. Learn more about the current price of Bruce Bolt batting gloves on Amazon or learn more about why Bruce Bolt batting gloves are worth the cost.
Article Contents
Players Almost Always Wear Batting Gloves on Both Hands
Whenever you purchase batting gloves, you’ll notice you will always get 2 gloves – one for each hand. This is because it is widely accepted that baseball players and softball players will wear a batting glove on both hands.
While it may have been common for baseball players to wear one batting glove when they were first introduced to baseball, the perception of batting gloves has changed over time and now you almost never see baseball players who wear only one batting glove.
In fact, I’ve been playing baseball for 30+ years and I can’t recall one person who used only one batting glove when hitting. It’s extremely rare to see because most baseball players are comfortable with wearing a batting glove on both hands.
Batting gloves also add a layer of protection when hitting so players tend to wear batting gloves on both hands. Batting gloves protect players from blisters, add additional padding in case they get hit by a pitch, and help keep player’s hands warm during those colder games.
I actually can’t think of a benefit to wearing only one batting glove while hitting.
Players Who Wear One Batting Glove Will Use Their Bottom Hand
While it’s more common to wear a batting glove on both hands, I have heard some people ask the question about whether they should wear one batting glove on their top or bottom hand.
As a general rule, players who wear only one batting glove will wear the glove on their bottom hand, which is the hand closest to the knob of the bat. Right-handed hitters would wear a glove on their left hand while left-handed hitters would wear a glove on their right hand.
This general rule is also true for golfers. In golf, players almost exclusively wear one golf glove and the hand they use is the hand closest to the end of their club.
Right-handed baseball players wear one glove on their left hand and right-handed golfers will also wear one glove on their left hand.
However, I’ve been playing baseball for 30+ years and I can’t recall a time I’ve seen a baseball player wear only one batting glove while hitting. Players almost always wear batting gloves on both hands or they will not wear batting gloves at all.
Some Players Prefer No Batting Gloves
Alternatively, there are baseball players who wear no batting gloves at all.
I’ve played with many players who don’t wear batting gloves and these players don’t believe they get any benefit from wearing them. Some of these players like the feel of the bat in their hands. Others are fine with only using some type of bat grip on their handles, like a Lizard Skin bat grip.
Not wearing batting gloves seems crazy to me, probably because my hands sweat a lot and the bat would easily slip out of my hands, but it’s much more common for me to see players use no batting gloves than it is for me to see players use only one batting glove.
I’ve learned that not everyone believes batting gloves are necessary, but people who wear batting gloves can’t go up to bat without them.
Players Sometimes Wear One Batting Glove While Playing Defense
While I never see any players wear one batting glove while hitting, I do see players wear a batting glove underneath their fielding glove.
In fact, this is exactly what I do when I’m playing defense. I wear one batting glove while playing defense and I’ll use two batting gloves while hitting.
My hands sweat a lot and at some point when I was in Little League I simply tried wearing a batting glove underneath my fielding glove and it worked amazingly well.
It’s extremely uncomfortable to wear a fielding glove while your hand is sweating and it makes it even more challenging to field a ball. But after I tried wearing a batting glove underneath my fielding glove I never looked back and I still do that to this day.
My strategy now is to have two separate pairs of batting gloves when I’m playing baseball. One really good pair of batting gloves for hitting and one really cheap pair of batting gloves for fielding.
The really good pair of batting gloves I love are these Bruce Bolt batting gloves. I also recommend reading my review on Bruce Bolt batting gloves if you’re in the market for a new pair of batting gloves (you won’t regret buying these).
