This is going to be an out-of-the-ordinary post, I think.
My 14-year-old son is beginning to hit a growth spurt, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to pass me in height soon! He’s always been on the bigger side, but his feet are keeping pace—he’s between a size 13 and 14, but also a 4E width (extra wide).
The problem is finding baseball cleats that fit him. I’ve got some time before outdoor practices start in March, so I’m trying to get ahead of this, but it’s been a challenge. New Balance used to make 4E baseball cleats, but they stopped offering them a few years back, and I haven’t had any luck finding them, even used. I've scoured the internet, reached out to every business online I found offering 4E cleats, which is 1, and even found someone that 3d prints custom cleats. It's been an enlightening rabbit hole. This fall, he wore NB Ohtani cleats in size 13 2E, which worked well but are now too narrow. For indoor practice, which started a few weeks ago, he’s been using his NB running shoes. They work fine but are a much higher stack than turfs.
He plays a mix of positions (pitcher, 1st, 3rd, and some LF/RF) and is on grass and turf fields. The turf mounds aren’t great most of the time. He used turf shoes on turf fields and the facility and metal cleats on grass fields in the fall. I know NB makes 4E in other categories, like trainers and golf shoes, as well as football cleats (multiple brands offer football in 4E), but I’m not sure if any of those would work, especially for pitching.
Has anyone else been through this? Any advice or recommendations for wide baseball cleats—or creative solutions for kids with extra-wide feet?