This is a real tough question if we have to be honest. Because the heart of the hide and pro preferred are both won thousands of users’ hearts by their performance. It’s not something like Apple vs Nokia that can be comparable by a lot.
Because both gloves are similar to each other. we are going to make features and specs comparison on the Rawlings Heart of the hide vs pro preferred. It’s hard to find any significant difference between these two.
But we will go deep down under the review to find the key difference factor between these two. At the last of this comparison, you will know which one will be suitable for you.
Rawlings Heart Of The Hide vs Pro Preferred: Comparison
Rawlings Heart Of The Hide
Rawlings Pro Preferred
Materials
Heart Of The Hide: This one is made with Steer Hide baseball leather that is specially made to perform with durable for a long amount of time. Constructed with highly professional Rawlings engineer to make sure it’s stable.
Pro Preferred: This one is made with Soft Pittard Sheepskin that especially comes from the farm of New-zealand. Compared to the Heart of the Hide, this material lasts for a long. The best thing is every piece of these gloves is constructed by hand to make sure its construction, performance, durability, and longevity.
Winner: Rawlings Pro Preferred
Webbing
Heart Of The Hide: Every different position requires a different webbing type. And the Rawlings Heart of the hide comes with different webbing designs for every different position. No matter you are a catcher or a pitcher, your glove is available here to choose from.
Pro preferred: Like the other one, this one also has various designs. If you are a fielder, then you should choose a glove that has trapeze, modified trap, H-web, I-web, and cross design for yourself. And if you are a first baseman, then the single post, modified H-web, and dual bar will be perfect for you.
Winner: Both
Size Variation
Heart Of The Hide: A baseball glove’s size depends on your hand measurement, comfortability, user-friendly criteria. Every size of the Heart Of The Hide is available to make sure you are getting the right one for your hand.
Pro Preferred: As an all-rounder baseball glove, the Pro Preferred also has every size of it that fits your hand like your old one.
Winner: Both
Comfort
Heart Of The Hide: For comfortability, Rawlings used the deer-tanned cowhide palm lining and soft full-grain finger back linings. It has the ability to stop the high speedy flying balls with absolute comfort.
Pro Preferred: The Rawlins Pro preferred can absorb up to 500 mph ball with the help of its high comfortable structure. They used soft Pittard’s sheepskin palm lining to take care of its comfortability. So if you are looking for a high protective glove to prevent your hand injury then look no further, this one should your go-to-go choice.
Winner: Pro Preferred
Hand Variation
Heart Of The Hide: No matter you are a left-hand thrower or right-hand, your preferred glove is available on this model.
Pro Preferred: Like the other one, this glove also has both hand variations for your strong hand. For every position, every design, and every style, it has both of the LHT and RHT models.
Winner: Both
Colors
Heart Of The Hide: Colors make your glove eye-catchy gives it a professional look that makes your standard different from others. According to human phycology, a professional and realistic color gives you boosting during your job. By keeping in mind, Rawlings released 12 different colors for every different position. So choose the one that you really like. Because indirectly it will affect on your performance.
Pro Preferred: It’s not a fact of disappointment, but this one has fewer color variations than the heart of the hide. It comes with only 7 different colors variation to choose from. But those 7 colors are extraordinary by look.
Winner: Heart of The Hide
Warranty
Heart Of The Hide: Warranty gives you the security of a product’s performance. Cheap baseball companies don’t offer it because all they want is just a sale. But popular brands of gloves like Rawlings or Wilson always think about customer satisfaction. The Rawlings Heart of the hide one comes with a 1-year warranty.
Pro Preferred: This one is also the product of Rawlings. The Pro Preferred also gives you 12 months of warranty. No question asked warranty means no matter what you did with that glove, the manufacturer won’t ask a single question from you to change that glove in 12 months.
Winner: Both
Overall Ease Of Use
Heart of the Hide: The Rawlings Heart of The Hide is durable, lightweight, well-structured, comfortable, and has more colors. The pro side of this glove that can be a deal maker to you is it’s affordable (than the Pro Preferred). It requires less break-in time compared to the second one.
Pro Preferred: The Rawlings Pro Preferred is durable, comfortable, structured by the experts, and more professional. Compared to the Heart of the hide, this one’s material has more quality and praised by professional MLB players. Also, it has more protective padding and requires more break-in time. Hence, the price of this glove can demotivate you a little to buy. But one thing we want to assure you that this glove is worth every single penny.
Which One Should You Buy?
Both gloves have been testified by hundreds of experts who play baseball professionally. To be honest it’s really hard to choose the best one between Rawlings heart of the hide vs pro preferred. Because both gloves have almost similar features and specs. But as part of the comparison, we have to choose one between them.
We looked at 7 most important features that a baseball glove should have and we found this:
- For 5 reasons you should buy Rawlings Heart Of The Hide
- For 6 reasons you should buy Rawlings Pro Preferred
After testing 7+ other features, our final verdict is:
- If you are looking for the best glove among these two then you should go for the Rawlings Pro Preferred.
- If you are looking for an ideal and perfect glove at an affordable price, then the Rawlings Heart of the hide will be the best choice for you.
If you are a newbie in baseball and trying to buy your first glove, then we highly recommend you to read this sizing guide.
