Baseball Coaching Digest - Home Batting Cages - Two Misbeliefs Concerning Baseball Batting Cage Use

Two Batting Cage Misbeliefs that baseball peoplethrown by a person not a machine. We must
need to know about are (1) Many people beliveremember that advanced batters benefit most
that a Batting Cage must be long for it to befrom seeing pitches thrown by a person. The
usable for all ages. That is not true. (2) Manybatter must pick-up the pitcher arm-slot, the
people believe that a batter must see 75 milespitcher release point and time the speed of the
per hour pitches to receive maximum benefitpitch thrown. When a person is throwing batting
from cage work. That is not true.practice the speed and location of every pitch can
This article discusses how many buyers arebe changed. It is also a fact that many people are
mistaken or misled in the buying or building a newnot adept at throwing strikes at longer distances.
baseball batting cage. The article outlines TwoHowever, most people can throw an accurate
Batting Cage Misbeliefs that are simply not true:pitch for a strike from 30and 40 feet distances.
1. Batting Cage Misbelief Number One - A CageThe batter gets more work in because more
must be long for it to be usable for all ages.pitches are hittable. Not as much time and effort
This is simply not true. Players of all ages, evenis wasted by with bad pitches out of the strike
the high school and collegiate levels can benefitzone. The shorter distance makes the workout
from batting practice in cages that are 35 to 50more efficient.
feet in length. A cage does not have to be 70What does this all mean to a potential batting
feet long for it to beneficial to advanced players.cage buyer?
The reason for this is that long-toss, front-tossFor the average home user shorter batting cage
and various other batting practice drills can beis suitable for all drills, batting practice, and
performed at distances under the regular pitchingapplications that you will need for your player to
distances. When batters take swings at pitchesbe successful through the high school level. I think
thrown at 35 feet, the batter is seeing andit is important to realize that the system you buy
reacting to pitches that simulate higher speeds atwill be used for a variety of batting drills. The
the normal pitching distance. The player mustfunction of the net is safety, ball containment, and
perform the swing with the proper trigger,practice efficiency. The batting net is no better
separate, and load actions. All of these elementsthan the parent or coach that dedicates time for
of the swing must be done at the same speed,its use. If you use it, you will experience incredible
rhythm, and timing as under normal game hitting.results. It will be a wise investment. Kids can not
2. Batting Cage Misbelief Number Two - A batteruse the cage without parental or adult supervision
must see 75 miles per hour pitches to receiveand participation.
maximum benefit.I hope that you found this article useful and
Most hitters at all levels of play including highinformative. You may find more like it at the
school, college, and pros would rather see and hitBaseball Coaching Digest and at the Youth
live arm pitches at 45 miles per hour at 30 feetBaseball Digest. Thanks for reading my article.
than pitches thrown by a machine at 75 miles perHave a great day.
hour. Live-arm batting practice is batting practice