One of the best right fielders in the National League reaches into his locker and pulls out a hunk of leather that looks like he just picked it off the shelf at a Dick’s Sporting Goods that morning.
“Still got the tag on it,” Sal Frelick says.
In a game of personalization and swag, Frelick is a unicorn. His Wilson glove features no customizations. You won’t find his name on it unless he Sharpies his initials on the inside tag. It is, by all accounts, boring.
It’s also vintage Frelick.
Unlike the other Gold Glove winners in the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse, Brice Turang and Christian Yelich, Frelick doesn’t have the gold Rawlings patch at the base of his glove. When Frelick won after the 2024 season, most assumed he would switch to Rawlings – his glove company included.
He didn’t.
“They were like, ‘Oh, you’re probably going to go to Rawlings now,'” said Frelick, the NL leader in outs above average in right field since his debut in 2023. “I just didn’t see any need to switch. I’ve been with them since I got drafted. I didn’t need a special patch.”
Wilson even offered to add some gold bars on the outside of Frelick’s glove to signify his award in a different way, but Frelick again declined. The leather you’ll see on Frelick’s left hand at American Family Field this year is the same one that was on the shelf at the glove expo Frelick stopped by in the offseason.
Hopefully he’ll at least remove the tag before games start.
For most big leaguers, gloves are deeply personal. They’re meticulously and precisely chosen, then customized. A look around the Brewers clubhouse during spring training at American Family Fields of Phoenix showed just that.
Here are the stories of the Brewers’ gloves.
The Gold Gloves
Just a couple lockers down from Frelick in the American Family Fields of Phoenix clubhouse are some examples of what his glove would look like if he cared about a colorful patch.
Turang’s Rawlings 217, an infield model with a smaller hand slot to create a more snug feel, features three main tones: black suede, brown hide and a platinum patch for the 2024 NL Platinum Glove winner.
Turang switched to Rawlings the year he won the Platinum Glove and this year added a new wrinkle, going with a “V” web at the suggestion of Jace Peterson, the former Brewers utility man who has served as a player development consultant for the team.
Turang prefers a stiffer feel to his glove, which makes him feel more in control with his hands that are among the best in baseball.
There’s a story behind his jersey number on the glove next to his nickname – which, combined, sounds out “Turang” – as well. Turang’s dad, Brian, wore the No. 1 on his uniform with the Seattle Mariners, and perhaps the Turang family will keep counting upwards.
“God willing, if anyone else in our family is lucky enough to play in the majors, they could be No. 3,” Turang said. “And so on.”
It’s been 12 years since Christian Yelich won his Gold Glove as the Miami Marlins left fielder, but you better believe he’s still rocking the gold Rawling’s patch where his wrist fits in.
“Guess I’m sticking with them,” Yelich chuckled.
Most of Yelich’s time is spent at designated hitter these days, but he isn’t retiring the fancy glove yet. He still feels he has plenty to give in the outfield when called upon, and when he’s out there, you can look for the glimmering reflection of his mitt.
Jacob Misiorowski’s gloves
The only customizations on Jacob Misiorowski’s game piece this spring were his name and a melting skull, which gives off the vivid imagery of a face-melting fastball out of Misiorowski’s right arm. That would be a pretty cool touch…if it was why Misiorowski put it there.
“No meaning,” Misiorowski said. “I just thought it looked cool.”
Stashed in his locker is a glove that does have plenty of meaning, though: a light blue glove with a red tulip, the symbol for Parkinson’s disease, and the phrase “You’re not alone.” Jacob’s father, Tom, has battled Parkinson’s since Jacob was young, making it a cause near and dear to the family.
Misiorowski has a few other specially customized gloves since joining 44, including an eggplant-purple one with a picture of Gengar, one of his favorite Pokémon characters, on it. Don’t get too excited, though; Misiorowski has no plans to use it in-game.
These two sound like they have a similar meaning. They don’t.
Brandon Sproat’s jet-black Rawlings features his motto to pitching: “Let It Eat”. Robert Gasser’s “heart of the hide” Rawlings simply says “Gas” on it.
At face value, these would both seem to be mantras for throwing the ball hard.
Sproat’s long-held personal slogan is a reminder to throw the ball as hard and with as much conviction every time; in other words, he’s trying to throw gas. But don’t get that twisted with the “Gas” inscribed on Gasser’s glove. That’s merely his nickname.
In fact, Gasser’s M.O. is the opposite of chucking gas.
“I tried that,” Gasser jokes. “Didn’t work out. I’m a command guy now.”
As for Sproat’s glove, the saying originated his junior year of college at the University of Florida. Sproat worked with Don Carman, former big league pitcher and current sports psychologist with the Boras Corporation, to devise a simple phrase that could get him back in the right mindset during games.
“I’ll take a peek at it during games,” Sproat said. “If things are kind of spiraling a little bit, I’ll take a look at it when it’s like this could get out of hand. It’s just a little reminder.”
Sproat and Carman still talk regularly, and their weekly chats have been a part of the right-hander’s intricate routine.
“We still talk probably once, twice a week,” Sproat said. “Before starts, after starts, day of my start. Just kind of what I’m feeling that day or what I worked on. The stuff we talk about it super simple but not easy. It works for me but might not work for everybody else.”
Tipping pitches? Try a bigger glove.
Kyle Harrison’s mitt is big. Like, really big.
It’s impossible to not notice Harrison’s 13-inch web when you examine it closely, as it’s even a quarter-inch longer than the standard outfielder’s. This spring, he’s been using a tan-and-blue Rawlings but also has a blue-and-yellow glove he got with Boston that could also fit with Milwaukee’s road baby blue jerseys.
The huge glove is purposeful; the Brewers, he learned after being traded in February, prefer pitchers to have a bigger web to make it harder for opponents to pick up on pitch grips.
This is the same reason Logan Henderson went with a 12¾-inch web this year, half a size larger than he used in 2025.
“They demand half a glove here,” Henderson said. “You don’t want to let the hitter know what’s coming.”
It’s a bit clunkier during fielding practice, Henderson added, but he’s gotten used to it.
“It’s an adjustment, but it’s still a glove,” Henderson said. “It still grabs the ball.”
The optimal fielding glove for a pitcher would be something like Jared Koenig’s, a diminutive Mizuno that, when the 6-foot-5 and 245-pound southpaw wears it, looks like an extension of his palm.
But that’s exactly how Koenig wants it.
When Koenig comes through with his front arm in his delivery, he wants his glove to feel like it’s attached to him, an extension of his wrist. And as for the tipping pitches part?
“I just have to be conscientious about it,” Koenig said.
Bible verses
A handful of Brewers adorn their gloves with a personally meaningful Bible verse.
Craig Yoho’s is Hebrews 12:11, which says “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
“It brings you back to like the reality of we’re playing a game,” Yoho said. “It’s not that deep at the end of the day. And so it kind of just has like a little humbling where it’s like, why am I worried about this?”
On the other side of “Let It Eat” on Sproat’s glove is Romans 5:3-4, which says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
“I mean, I’ve been through many ups and downs throughout my career,” Sproat said. “A lot of downs. Through all of them, you got to rejoice through them and keep my eyes on the Lord and give him all the glory. At the end of the day, he’s the only one that can give me the strength to get through those things and turn them around for the better.”
In the hand hole of Grant Anderson’s glove are the initials of his two boys, Lennox and Jace, and along the side is Psalm 23, a hymn of praise that says “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Steward Berroa, in addition to having his nickname, “Cosobo”, on his baby blue and pink guante, has Matthew 23:12 stitched on it. Berroa, who uses one of the most well-worn gloves on the team, also had a black one with his parents’ names on it until it was stolen from the ballpark last year while in the minor leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Joey Ortiz, who often uses Christian rap as his walk-up song, doesn’t have a verse but instead three religious-themed emblems on his brown, snakeskin Wilson: a cross, an acronym for “His Glory Alone” and the phrase “Unashamed.”
A YouTube show…?
Launched in 2018, the founders of the YouTube channel Yes Theory had the idea that they could find fulfillment by doing things out of their comfort zone. Their motto: Seek discomfort.
Quinn Priester, 18 years old and freshly drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time, was among the millions drawn to their videos, which showed the hosts putting themselves in wildly uncomfortable situations.
The motto holds weight in baseball, too. Pitching in the big leagues is anything but comforting. So, he puts it on his glove.
A message from Granpda
Priester uses other gloves with an even more personal message: “Keep focus,” which was the last text that Priester’s grandfather sent him before passing away.
He isn’t the only player with a message from his grandfather on his glove, either. Garrett Mitchell’s two-tone Rawlings with pink trim has one of his grandpa’s favorite sayings inscribed in bold lettering you can’t miss.
Keep The Faith.
Mitchell also has the phrase tattooed on his forearm. It’s one of many tattoos the outfielder has on his body, but it’s the only one visible when he’s wearing his uniform and standard bright yellow right arm sleeve, a motivational message reminding him of his focus while overcoming injuries and Type 1 diabetes.
Breaking them in
Big leaguers, it turns out, are just like Little Leaguers when it comes to breaking in a new glove. The tried-and-true method of Timmy and Tommy is probably good enough for Joey Ortiz.
After Brandon Lockridge dumped his old glove that he says was so floppy that unless a fly ball hit the center pocket it would jostle around in the loose flaps, he broke in one this off-season with the tender care of some rubbing oil and a bunch of time in the sauna. That was about enough to do the trick to soften it up, but not too much.
David Hamilton wrapped his in rubber bands this offseason and placed it under the mattress.
Koenig’s were wrapped in his locker this spring in Glove Wrap, a product first pitched on Shark Tank and now sold in sporting goods stores.
Turns out being a Platinum Glove winner has its perks, too: Turang said Rawlings did some pre-work on breaking in his glove before sending it to him. He’s close to the point of his preferred stiffness while still fully broken in, the perfect combination that makes him feel more in control with his hands.
“I asked for them to get it more game ready than usual,” Turang said. “They can beat the pocket in more. They have the machines that can beat it. For us, we just have to beat it, play catch with it.”
Catcher William Contreras is on two straight years of fully breaking in two gloves. A year ago, his broken left middle finger forced him to alternate between his standard gamer and a second one that the Brewers specially added more padding to midway through the year. Now, he came in with a Venezuelan-themed glove for the World Baseball Classic.
Contreras won’t be using that one in games…probably. He is, after all, one of the most colorful players on the team when it comes to his gear.
Perhaps he can share with Frelick.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: These are the Milwaukee Brewers’ gloves – and the stories behind them
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
