If you saw Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter's glove during his start against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday—or at any point during the 2025 season—and were wondering if something looked a bit different, you were onto something.

Leiter is utilizing a Rawlings-made custom glove, one that is unusually large and also features no holes for his index finger, as many baseball gloves typically do.

And, as it turns out, Leiter's glove has a strategic purpose, as the Rangers play-by-play announcer Dave Raymond explained.

"The back of his glove, where normally, you would slide your index finger through the opening and it would be in the back of the glove—there's no way to get through it," Raymond explained. "It's a solid back mitt. He had it made for him that way because ... it's a way, using the back of your hand, that teams will pick out a tell. They might find you tipping pitches."

"This offseason he went to get a slightly bigger glove. So he talked to his guy at Rawlings and he's like, 'Can I get a bigger glove so I can hide the ball like that?' "

In theory, the size of Leiter's glove allows him to better hide his pitching grips on the baseball, while the lack of an opening for his index finger reduces the chances of an opposing team finding a clue into potential pitch tipping.

In an MLB season where innovation has found its way into baseball bats, why not into gloves as well?

Leiter, the son of former 19-year MLB veteran Al Leiter, was the second overall pick in the 2021 MLB draft. He made his big league debut with the Rangers in April of 2024. He struggled to an 8.83 ERA in six starts as a rookie, and, evidently, tipping pitches was a concern of his following his tough first season in the big leagues.

Leiter on Friday tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out six Cardinals while lowering his season ERA to 3.66. With the Rangers currently leading 9-0, Leiter will be in line for his fourth win of the season, barring a Cardinals comeback.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rangers Broadcast Explains Why Jack Leiter Wears An Unusual Custom Glove.

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