Nike and Adidas Catchers Gear

If you are just going to start catching I would say borrow for as long as possible. Even if you buy your own helmet, borrow the rest for a while.  If you stick behind the plate you will have had the opportunity to try a few different brands and will maybe have gotten closer to your final height which will make whatever you buy last longer.

@22and25 posted:

If you are just going to start catching I would say borrow for as long as possible. Even if you buy your own helmet, borrow the rest for a while.  If you stick behind the plate you will have had the opportunity to try a few different brands and will maybe have gotten closer to your final height which will make whatever you buy last longer.

Good point but I think I am going to have to buy my own gear. It would be pretty hard and time consuming to be borrowing the gear during practice and I wouldn’t have any to use when I’m practicing on my own.

See if you have a Play It Again sports nearby. Maybe try grabbing the chest protector and shin guards there. Also, try ebay maybe. Also, check the various discount baseball websites. You may find something on clearance that can work for you,

@ARCEKU21 posted:

See if you have a Play It Again sports nearby. Maybe try grabbing the chest protector and shin guards there. Also, try ebay maybe. Also, check the various discount baseball websites. You may find something on clearance that can work for you,

Thank you. Local Play It Again Sports doesn’t have much catchers gear in my size. On Ebay, the Adidas shin guards and chest protector would be $60 in total. This would leave me enough money to get the hockey style mask and traditional for summer.

Never mind, after in depth research, found that the Adidas Chest Protector is NOT Nocsae certified.

I'm a big fan of All-Star, but they are expensive. Their customer service is incredible. You may want to try looking on SidelineSwap and make lowball offers to see if you can get the gear you want.

I posted a link in another thread about catcher gear. There are a ton of older CP's that are NOCSAE compliant, they just don't have the fancy "certified" tag on them. You may want to cross reference the Adidas protector to see if it is there.

Could you afford the better chest/leg guards if you only had one helmet.  I don't see why you think you need both hockey and traditional.  I'd just get the hockey and get the better chest and leg.  For what it's worth, it's been 5 or 6 years but mine loved the All Star.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

I'm a big fan of All-Star, but they are expensive. Their customer service is incredible. You may want to try looking on SidelineSwap and make lowball offers to see if you can get the gear you want.

I posted a link in another thread about catcher gear. There are a ton of older CP's that are NOCSAE compliant, they just don't have the fancy "certified" tag on them. You may want to cross reference the Adidas protector to see if it is there.

I looked around on the NOCSAE website and saw it was not certified. I also saw Amazon reviews and a couple people asked if it was certified in the questions. Answer was no, but you can buy a NOSCAE certified shirt with chest guard, but that would cost another $60-90. That extra money would sort of kill my deal.

@9and7dad posted:

Could you afford the better chest/leg guards if you only had one helmet.  I don't see why you think you need both hockey and traditional.  I'd just get the hockey and get the better chest and leg.  For what it's worth, it's been 5 or 6 years but mine loved the All Star.

Not too sure yet. After class I will look into it more. I’m starting to think I should get just the traditional mask, and wait until high school starts to get the hockey style. By “better chest protector and leg guards”, what do you mean? I know All Star and other brands have great gear, but I’m curious as to which series, etc. Thank you

"Better" = quality is greater. Will last you longer. I'd rather pay $200 annually than $120 twice a year for legs, for instance. I would go with any of the All-Star gear (doesn't have to be Series 7/Axis) or Mizuno. Wilson also makes a solid set, but are harder to find. Rest are meh. They'll work for the short term.

Look on eBay for used equipment, you can often find some item there that work. Also, make sure you're getting the right size for everything. Intermediate and adult are the two "normal" sizes you'll see, but if you have long legs, you may end up needing XL legs, which are harder to find.

And I agree with previous comments on the mask. Get the hockey one and roll with that. They aren't that hot, and they do a better job of protecting your noggin (which is what's going to get you into college). The day you take a backswing into your ear, you'll be happy you're wearing it.

Also, if you are tall (over 6 feet) with long legs (16.5 from mid-knee to ankle bone), PM me. I have a full used Wilson XL set that I'd be happy to sell you cheap to get you going. Could even break it apart if you want.

I echo @9and7dad -- especially if you're just starting out catching, not sure why you'd want to have the hassle of two different facemasks? My son catches, and many (most?) of the summer catchers wear the hockey-style mask. The all-star leg guards are very comfortable compared to other brands he's tried. (He's  not as fond of the All-star nocsae chest protector).

@Senna posted:

"Better" = quality is greater. Will last you longer. I'd rather pay $200 annually than $120 twice a year for legs, for instance. I would go with any of the All-Star gear (doesn't have to be Series 7/Axis) or Mizuno. Wilson also makes a solid set, but are harder to find. Rest are meh. They'll work for the short term.

Look on eBay for used equipment, you can often find some item there that work. Also, make sure you're getting the right size for everything. Intermediate and adult are the two "normal" sizes you'll see, but if you have long legs, you may end up needing XL legs, which are harder to find.

And I agree with previous comments on the mask. Get the hockey one and roll with that. They aren't that hot, and they do a better job of protecting your noggin (which is what's going to get you into college). The day you take a backswing into your ear, you'll be happy you're wearing it.

Also, if you are tall (over 6 feet) with long legs (16.5 from mid-knee to ankle bone), PM me. I have a full used Wilson XL set that I'd be happy to sell you cheap to get you going. Could even break it apart if you want.

Thank you. And sorry, I am not tall. Lol, 5’3 right now.

If you are 5'3", you might get by with the intermediate size gear for at least a year.  It costs a lot less than the Adult size gear.  My son started with a used set of All-Star intermediate. He has gone through Mizuno and now back to All-star. He loves the All-Star hockey style because he can see better.

@JETSR71 posted:

If you are 5'3", you might get by with the intermediate size gear for at least a year.  It costs a lot less than the Adult size gear.  My son started with a used set of All-Star intermediate. He has gone through Mizuno and now back to All-star. He loves the All-Star hockey style because he can see better.

Agreed. That’s kind of why I was trying to get the gear cheaper versus spending more money since I figure I will grow out of it quickly.

@2025prospect what do you think of this CP? It is graphite and an intermediate size. It is on the NOCSAE list of approved legacy CP’s

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

@2025prospect what do you think of this CP? It is graphite and an intermediate size. It is on the NOCSAE list of approved legacy CP’s

Looks good. I am now planning on getting something somewhat similar. Under Armour gear in navy blue and gray. Would cost $230. I believe I heard that Under Armour is made by All Star.

@JETSR71 posted:

If you are 5'3", you might get by with the intermediate size gear for at least a year.  It costs a lot less than the Adult size gear.  My son started with a used set of All-Star intermediate. He has gone through Mizuno and now back to All-star. He loves the All-Star hockey style because he can see better.

My son was about your size at that age.  Intermediate did not fit well so he used youth chest protector for a while... then he found out that the youth version didn't protect much against a HS spiked fastball.  Our solution was to get the intermediate size but his mom had to shorten the straps (i.e., a sewing project).  It provided much better protection when blocking.

For what it's worth, my son used All-Star helmet and shin guards but really liked Nike chest protector.

@Smitty28 posted:

My son was about your size at that age.  Intermediate did not fit well so he used youth chest protector for a while... then he found out that the youth version didn't protect much against a HS spiked fastball.  Our solution was to get the intermediate size but his mom had to shorten the straps (i.e., a sewing project).  It provided much better protection when blocking.

For what it's worth, my son used All-Star helmet and shin guards but really liked Nike chest protector.

Gotcha, before, I caught in 12u and my 12.5 inch youth chest protector doesn’t fit me. Can’t even get into it. My head is too big lol. Has your son used the Nike shin-guards? Thank you

@2025prospect posted:

Looks good. I am now planning on getting something somewhat similar. Under Armour gear in navy blue and gray. Would cost $230. I believe I heard that Under Armour is made by All Star.

UA is made by All-Star. If that falls through let me know. You can PM me and I’ll ship this to you for free.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

UA is made by All-Star. If that falls through let me know. You can PM me and I’ll ship this to you for free.

Thank you. The Under Armour set I was going to purchase on Ebay sold.  Check PM.