If you have ever followed our coverage of Carlos Gonzalez’ gear, you will know that he creates some of the sickest Nike baseball equipment on the planet. However, his latest creation is not a Nike, and, no, it is not the pine tar stick Cargo is showcasing in the above picture.
After years as a head-to-toe billboard with the Swoosh, Cargo turned up with a glove from the most popular glove brand in the MLB, Rawlings. As the “Cargo” embroidery suggests, this 12.75 inch, H-webbed Rawlings Heart of the Hide PRO303-6TI is in fact Gonzalez’ mitt. But is it his gamer?
At this point, its solely a warmup glove, as he is still gaming the black/red Nike Vapor 360 that we first featured a few years ago.
PICTURED: Nolan Arenado’s Warmup Glove: Rawlings Heart of the Hide PRO12-6TI
Whether it was his snowy Nike Diamond Elite Pro or his flashy Nike Vapor 360, Cargo loves him some flash. However, Gonzalez kept the colorway on his warmup Rawlings glove rather simple: all Timberglaze base with black embroidery and Vegas Gold stitching.
This is the same colorway his slick fielding teammate, Nolan Arenado, designed and currently sports on his game glove. Just like Arenado’s back-up (pictured above), Cargo’s Rawlings has the prestigious gold patches to celebrate his 2010, 2012, and 2013 Gold Glove awards.
Is Gonzalez making the switch to Rawlings?
Cargo can follow one of these three paths:
- The Andrew McCutchen path: McCutchen used a Nike glove prior to the 2016 season, used a Rawlings Pro Preferred PRO303-6KB during the entire 2016 season, switched back to his past Nike gamer for the 2017 season.
- The Matt Harvey path: used one of the nicest-looking Nike gloves prior to the 2017 season, made the full switch to Rawlings for the 2017 season.
- The last and most likely path: he continues using the Rawlings as a warmup glove while continuing to use a Nike as his game glove.
My bet would be on the third path, as I believe Cargo’s loyalty to Nike is much too great to make such a sudden switch. However, that does rule out a possible 2018 switch from Nike, a company seemingly exiting the glove market, in favor of the company known for producing the “Finest in the Field.”
Do you think Carlos Gonzalez will make the switch from Rawlings?
