FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Early in the morning before workouts started, a handful of Red Sox players made their way just outside the clubhouse over to an area set up for Wilson Glove Day.
"I love it," said Hanley Ramirez, when he got a new first baseman's mitt. He then gave glove guru Shigeaki Aso a hug.
Reliever Matt Barnes got another new black model -- the same color that he's used since college.
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"I've always used black. That's what we had at UConn, liked black and continued to use it and use it now," Barnes said. "It's just what I do. There's nothing special, crazy about it."
Second baseman Dustin Pedroia said: "I love it. The model's the best."
Reliever Joe Kelly picked up his red model and said: "I felt like Goldilocks -- not too hot, not too cold. Just right. This one's good."
Wilson's glove team arrives at Spring Training each year to deliver gloves to players on all 30 teams.
"You don't know what they're looking for," Aso said. "Most of the time, it's the same model."
Barnes has a plan that he follows each year.
"I use the previous year's glove as the backup for the next year, so this year, I get a new custom one, the same glove I like pitching with," Barnes said. "This year, I use an outfielder's glove to play catch with because I have a couple of infielder's ones."
Kelly joked that, if there were no restrictions by MLB, he had a model in mind.
"I'd make it white, so every time I threw the ball, they didn't know it was coming," Kelly said, smiling.
Pointing to red laces, he said: "I'd actually put laces on like that to make it look like a ball."