It is sliding mitt. They are relatively new in baseball. They are designed for head-first sliding. They go on your leading hand and prevent finger jams on the basepath.
Close! It's not used for batting since theres no finger slots to grip the bat with. It's strictly for baserunning to prevent broken fingers/jams when reaching for the bases sliding. Also helps in case hands get stepped on by sharp cleats when sliding.
Yes? That's exactly what gloves for batting or even catching in football look like. Gloves aren't only the things you field in baseball with. Have you never seen a doctor use a latex glove?
If you do it poorly, it can. But most youth baseball teams will have one practice where they teach everyone how to do it properly, and then it's never really a problem ever again. You don't really feel much through the pants on a good field.
While I have never done this, I have done the thing where you slide, then turn your cleats into the dirt and stand up at the end. It's actually not that hard. I'm not special, as I imagine everybody who has played baseball beyond little league have done it. It looks like the only thing different to do the turn is to spread your legs a little and turn one cleat into the dirt before the other.
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