I tried. I really tried to like the two new Wilson A2000 baseball gloves I got about a year ago. I kept an open mind – thought I needed an A2000 because they were ‘cool’ – told myself days weeks and months into owning them I had ‘made a good choice’… but I’m done lying to myself to try and validate the purchase.
The Wilson A2000 isn’t a bad baseball glove, the Wilson A2000 has some flaws – flaws that make the make the Wilson A2000 the last high end glove line I would personally recommend. I never planned on doing a Wilson A2000 review, it just sort of happened. In reality, this is less a glove review and more of an FYI post. I don’t hate my former A2000 gloves at all, but I feel like these issues never allowed me to truly love my Wilson A2000, and they need to be pointed out before you shell out almost $300 for a new one.
Unnecessarily Long Break In Process
Ask anyone who knows gloves – saying the Wilson A2000 is hard to break in is an understatement! My A2000 1786 and 1799 have been in my bag for about a year each so far… Neither one is legitimately game ready. Literally thousands of catches. A couple hours of sweat inducing beatings with the trusty wooden glove mallet. Hundreds of pitches from an 80 MPH pitching machine. Even Aso’s hot water and bucket method. Nothing has loosened up the glove’s pocket or heel area. Days before I sold it, I was using the Wilson 1786 during my son’s bullpen session, not ready to give up on the break in process, and the baseball was still popping out of the glove because of the stiffness and shallow pocket.
Hard, Uncomfortable, Cheap Feeling Leather
A quality baseball glove leather does NOT squeak when you open and close it. Period. Especially after oiling and working in the glove diligently. A year in and both of my Wilson A2000 ball gloves squeak in the fingers. My Rawlings Heart of the Hides have NEVER done that. The leather on the Rawlings Heart of the Hide is a finer quality… it feels more like a “real leather”, where the Wilson A2000 feels more like a toy glove in comparison, with hard, uncomfortable leather on my hand. Another thing I have noticed is that there’s something about the A2000 leather that really attracts dirt and grime compared to other gloves like Rawlings Heart of the Hide and the Mizuno Classic series. The “padding” on the back of the wrist is lumpy and made from a hard material that is awkward and bugs the hand.
A2000 Gloves Have Shallow Pockets
Watch Wilson’s official YouTube channel and you will see what the MLB players say about their new Wilson A2000 gloves they get during Spring Training – they all say how they need to make the pocket deeper. Every single one of them. They have to take extra time to pound them. Loosen laces. Even replace laces.This is all fine and good for professional baseball players, but not so much for the average travel ball or high school baseball players – players that are by far the largest market for A2000 gloves by sales volume.
Wilson Gloves Are Undersized
Every glove maker from Wilson to Rawlings to Mizuno all essentially use their own method for measuring the size of a baseball glove. When comparing a Wilson A2000 vs Rawlings Heart of the Hide, Wilson baseball gloves are notably smaller when holding up two 11.5 inch model gloves side by side. Not a huge deal, but something a glove buyer needs to know when making comparisons. Proper and consistent sizing can be found once again, on Rawlins Heart of the Hide models.
