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This Minor League player uses leather work gloves during his at-bats

When 23-year-old Dalton Wheat steps up to the plate, he has a classic swing that you might expect from any smooth, left-handed hitting prospect. But he sports a unique accessory when he heads to the batter's box: his gloves.
As opposed to the standard batting gloves we have grown accustomed to, the outfielder for the Greensboro Grasshoppers -- Class A Affiliate of the Miami Marlins -- wears leather work gloves. 
"Yellow-and-gray Tillman model 1414 driver gloves, size medium," Wheat recently told the News & Observer.
What's so special about these gloves? Do they give him any type of advantage?
Somewhat.
"They're leather," Wheat says, "just like any other batting glove. They're just a lot thicker. That's pretty much all the difference."

It all started when Wheat let his teammate borrow his normal batting gloves and the two happened to be in separate hitting groups the following day. Wheat was forced to hit without gloves, and got a blister on his hand. After scrounging through his pickup truck, he found the work gloves -- and the rest is history.
He's comfortable with the gloves and has been hitting well since the beginning of June, sporting a .350 average.
Wheat eventually got some new batting gloves, but after trying them on he didn't like them, so now he went back to the heavy leather work gloves.
Whatever helps. 

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