Valle Eagle Pro 32WT Weighted Catchers Training Mitt
The Valle Eagle Pro 32WT is a 32 inch weighted catchers training mitt in Japanese kip leather, built for baseball catchers who want to train the glove hand at game size rather than in an undersized mitt. It has a closed two-piece web, an open wrist back, additional palm padding, and roughly eight ounces of added weight.
A Trainer That Is Not Undersized
Every other Valle baseball catching trainer works by taking size away: twenty-five, twenty-seven and twenty-nine inch patterns that force the ball into the middle of a shallow pocket. The Pro 32WT works the other way. At thirty-two inches it is at the bottom end of game size, so the mitt in a catcher's hand is shaped and sized like the one they use on Saturday.
What changes is the weight. This mitt asks the receiving hand to hold a game-size mitt still while carrying an extra half-pound, and that is a strength and endurance demand rather than an accuracy one. A catcher can take a full look at the pitch, in the position they actually use, and find out whether their hand is strong enough to keep the mitt where they put it.
Valle publishes no per-model weight. Their figures are approximations: unweighted gloves around a pound, weighted models around a pound and a half, with roughly eight ounces separating a model from its twin.
Who Should Use Weight Instead of a Small Mitt
Baseball catchers whose receiving looks correct early in a game and deteriorates late. That is almost always a strength problem rather than a technique one, and an undersized mitt does not fix it, because the fault is not where the ball is being caught.
It also suits a catcher who has already spent time in the small trainers. Having learned to receive in the pocket, the next thing to train is holding the position under load, and this is the mitt for that.
If your catcher is still catching balls off the thumb or on the edge, start with a smaller mitt instead: the Pro 27 in the same leather, or the S-Series 27S. The lesson has to come before the load.
Japanese Kip and an Open Wrist Back
The shell is Japanese kip, lighter and finer-grained than steerhide with a tighter fibre structure, laced with USA-tanned leather. On a mitt this size the lighter hide matters twice over, because the weight it carries is deliberate and everything else should not be.
The wrist back is open, as on every Pro Series glove. The S-Series Eagle 32WT is the same weighted 32 inch idea in Japanese steerhide with an adjustable Velcro strap, at a lower price, and the 32HW takes a third route to the same problem by removing half the webbing from a 32 inch mitt instead of adding weight.
How to Train With It
Because it is game size, it can take a longer look than the small trainers. Ten to twenty baseballs in the weighted mitt, then the same in the game mitt, and repeat. Work the edges of the zone and hold each receive for a beat, which is where fatigue shows itself first.
Do not block in it. It has training padding, not blocking protection, and the added weight makes it slower to get down anyway.
Valle Eagle Pro 32WT Weighted Catchers Training Mitt Specifications
- Size: 32 inch catchers training pattern, measured around the circumference
- Series: Valle Eagle Pro Series
- Leather: Japanese kip shell with USA-tanned leather lacing
- Web: closed two-piece
- Wrist back: open
- Weighted: yes, roughly 8 ounces of added weight
- Padding: additional palm padding
- Color: white
- Hand: right hand throw
- Sport: baseball
What Is Included
The mitt. The weight is built in; nothing is added or removed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 32 inches a game size?
It is at the bottom of the game range, which runs about thirty-two to thirty-four inches. That is the point: this mitt trains with weight rather than by being small.
How is it different from the Eagle 32WT?
Leather and wrist back. This is Japanese kip with an open back at a higher price; the S-Series 32WT is Japanese steerhide with an adjustable Velcro strap. Same size, same added weight.
Weighted or half web?
The weighted mitt trains the hand; the 32HW trains where the ball is caught by taking half the web away. Choose by which fault you are trying to fix.
Can I block with it?
No. Receiving only.
Is it available for left-handed catchers?
No. Right hand throw only.
Care That Does Not Void the Warranty
Kip is a fine-grained leather and it rewards being left alone. Let the glove air dry after a wet session rather than putting it near heat, store it with a ball in the pocket instead of flat in a bag, and wipe the white leather down now and then so it stays white. If it needs conditioning, use a little of the Valle glove conditioner and use it sparingly. Avoid the shortcuts entirely: steaming, soaking, microwaving and baking all void Valle's warranty, and on a trainer they also soften the glove into the very pocket it was built to deny you.
Valle covers the glove with a one year limited warranty against defects in materials or workmanship, running from the date you receive it. Worth knowing: the warranty is void if the glove is steamed, soaked, microwaved or baked to speed up break-in. Playing catch with it is the method that keeps it intact.