Want to bring that baseball field feeling home? Perhaps you are a baseball player wanting to keep up your A-game in the off-season or you would just like to have a fun place to play. Either way, consider one of these at-home batting cage ideas.
There are many reasons to use batting cages at home besides practicing skills. It is becoming easier to install a home batting cage, because they are much less expensive than they were at one time. Having a batting cage at home means there is no waiting to get in and less fuel used to get to a public batting cage. It will save money on baseballs because they will be contained within the cage rather than going over the fence. Batting cages are long lasting if they are taken care of properly. Do not forget to take it down during the winter to keep it safe from the elements. The good news is that they are relatively simple to put up and take down.
Options abound for those looking to increase their batting practice time. People can choose the old classic of a tee and net batting cage. One could purchase a drop trainer. A drop trainer is a machine that drops balls from about seven feet. A soft toss pitching machine can also be installed. What is a soft toss machine? It is a pitching machine that sits on the ground. The balls are shot up into the air for the batter to hit. If none of those works, there is the option to hire someone to build a customized at-home batting cage.
Each of these home batting cage ideas focus on developing a specific skill set. The tee and net setup gives players a chance to work on some of the fine points of the game. It is important to develop patience when working on a swing. This is where a drop trainer comes in handy. A common concern when developing baseball skills is knowing how to hit a ball at just the right time. A soft tosser can be set at varying intervals, commonly at about every five seconds. That can help a batter work on reflexes and analyzing the batting situation.
Since the space is much smaller at home than at a public batting cage, putting one in at home may be best left to the professional. One can hire a company to create customized batting cages. There are some considerations to make when installing a batting cage or when having one installed. There needs to be ample room for the balls to fly from the pitching machine. The net should be placed far enough away from the batter so that one can realistically see how far the ball went after a swing.
Home batting cage ideas cover a wide range of baseball players’ needs. Some work on finer skills and others on things like timing. A person can install their own batting cage or hire a professional to create a custom one.
December 13th, 2009
admin
One of the keys to hitting with power is generating backspin on the baseball. Well, that sounds great and all but how exactly does that work? This article will hopefully give you some tips in connecting with the baseball in such a way that promotes success at the plate.
If you think about how a ball flies through the air, then you’ll notice that one that has top spin will tend to dive towards the ground. While, on the other hand, one with backspin will fly further.
As a hitter, putting yourself in a position to hit the ball that generates backspin is not as complicated as you might think. Focus on these two points the next time you are taking a little bp:
- Drive the knob end of the bat down to the ball and through the zone. Often referred to as staying behind the ball. By working on this aspect of the swing, your swing will become quicker; your elbows will be tucked in nicely to your side. This will help develop a nice compact quick athletic swing.
- Finish your swing. The barrel will naturally follow the knob of the bat. It can’t help but to follow it. It has to. By driving the knob through the zone, the bat speed that is generated will be exponential down at the barrel of the bat. The important aspect of this point is to finish your swing. Your arms should almost point straight at the pitcher. Often referred to as extending your arms. Don’t overlook this simple point as it will bring the most return.
There are two ways to work on creating backing and at the same work on the fundamentals listed above. First, grab your tee and place a ball on it. As you prepare to hit, envision that there are two extra balls on the front side and you want to hit all three balls. Really focus on hitting line drives up the middle. If you are working in a batting cage, try to hit line drives straight to the back of the cage. Second, with your l-screen, have someone work on throwing soft toss from the front. Again, work on driving the ball up the middle every time. Focus on driving the ball off of the l-screen.
Work on these two aspects using the drills mentioned above and ffter a short time you should notice that you are able to create backspin regularly.
Do batting cages make better hitters?
Like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it. If you want to learn to jump higher in order to get the edge on the basketball court then you would invest in vertical jump training. The same thought applies to baseball. It certainly won’t hurt to have a batting cage at your disposal whether public or in your own backyard. Learning to hit a baseball requires a tremendous amount of time and repetition. Now, if the only thing you do is put your player in the cage and simply let them hit pitch after pitch from a pitching machine then you are definitely not getting the most out of your batting cage.
It is not how long you work on your hitting but how effective your swings are that matters.
4 Hitting Drills
These hitting drills will make batting practice fun for your young player while at the same time putting the necessary swings in to be a better hitter. Work these drills into your practice time and you’ll begin to see the difference in no time both in confidence and mechanics.
Hit off of a tee
This is the classic of all drills and is not just for tee ballers. Don’t overlook this one as a lot can be accomplished with this little piece of equipment. The two biggest things that you want to work on is your weight shift from back to front as well as finishing your swing. First, start with the your weight slightly back on the back leg. Really exaggerate the weight as this will demonstrate how using your body can generate more power. Second, work on exploding through the ball with your hands – extending your arms as you finish your swing. This exercise will help create backspin on the baseball which allows the ball to carry and turn those singles into doubles and triples.
Soft toss from the front
You’ll want to use your l-screen for this drill. Place the screen about 8-10 away from the hitter. Feed the baseballs to the hitter in an underhand fashion. This will allow the balls to be flat but yet have just enough velocity. The goal is to build on the tee drill focusing on trying to hit line drives off of the l-screen. Again, explode through the ball with your hands and extend your arms.
Use a donut on the bat
This is a fun drill. Go to your local sporting goods store and purchase a donut for your bat. Again, using your l-screen in a similar fashion to the soft toss from the front exercise throw balls to the batter. With the donut on the bat, the player hits the baseballs thus reinforcing getting the bat through the strike zone. The donut will practically carry the bat through and help to create muscle memory.
One handed drill
The one handed drill is just that – use one hand to swing the bat. If the player bats from the right side, use your right hand and vice versa for the left handed hitter. Have the player choke up quite a bit so that they have a little more control. The idea is to teach the hitter to get through the zone with the knob end of the bat. Loading up the barrel until the last possible second until it finally hits the ball. Try to catch the ball out in front of the plate. Try not to have the ball get deep in the zone. This drill promotes quick hands and hand eye coordination.
A very important aspect of getting the most out of practice time, whether in your backyard or at a training facility, is the batting cage equipment. The right equipment coupled with appropriate and highly focused drills will allow you to maximize the use of your cage as well as your time while at the same time making the practice time fun for the young player.
Home plate
This is an obvious piece of equipment. Having a home plate available allows the hitter to align themselves up and maintain a proper hitting stance. Effectively used for soft toss drills or actual batting practice from a live arm or pitching machine.
L-screen
An L-screen is simply that – a screen in the shape of an L that allows the pitcher to throw batting practice while providing protection from line drives. If you can afford one piece of equipment then this would be the one to buy. Having an L-screen will not only provides protection it will fully allow you to maximize the size of your batting cage. You can place the L-screen closer to the hitter while still maintaining a very effective practice session as well as open your session up to many different types of drills.
Tee
A batting tee is often an overlooked piece of equipment but still needs to be a part of your training regimen. There are, of course, many varieties of tees on the market today. Some contain one single post or stem while others enable you to move the post around the area of the plate to work inside or outside pitches. The ability to move the post is not essential for effective hitting practice. You can simply move the tee itself around home plate to get the same effect and is really more cost effective. No matter which type of tee you choose, be sure to work it in to your practice as it is still the best piece of equipment for instantaneous feedback on mechanics and the development of repetition.
Pitching machine
Of all the pieces of equipment listed above, this is the one piece that you could really live without if need be. Pitching machines come in a couple of various types including wheel based and “arm” based. Wheel based machines use a rotating wheel to throw the pitch while an arm type machine will catapult the ball towards the hitter. It really comes down to preference and budget as to selecting the best type of machine. A pitching machine is non-essential but there is also a lot to be said for predictability and consistency of pitches in practice time for developing young players while more experienced hitters can benefit from hitting high velocity and trick pitches.