A New World Of Baseball Hitting Aids

By Agnes Dickson


Good hitting requires not just an eye and reflexes but a disciplined swing. A good swing requires the number of repetitions that don't come when one has to constantly throw fresh baseballs to be sprayed a couple hundred feet in all directions across the park or backyard. Baseball hitting aids can cultivate any batter's natural and talent.

The simplest of these aids is the common batting tee. Essentially it does the same thing a golf tee does but comes with a stalk to hold the ball higher, usually adjustable and ranging between just below thirty inches to nearly four feet. This places the ball right within most young hitters' sweet spot, letting them repeat a well-balanced swing.

To keep from having to spend all day running after balls struck off the tee, one could add a screen so the ball can be netted and pocketed . A few nets come with targets stitched in their netting to allow the youngster to know when the ball is a sure hit. Tees and screens are both just as good for softball as they are for baseball, and ought to be designed to stay upright and stationary during moderately windy days.

A swing tee lets one avoid the whole problem of netting the struck ball after it has been struck. With a swing arm tee the ball is firmly fixed to the arm that itself is designed to swing around while rooted to an axis. The ball just springs right back after being whipped around in a tight circle once the young hitter crushes it.

Several types of batting tee work to sharpen a young hitter's swing by making maximum use of repetitions. Sadly, there really is no replacement for a live pitcher, especially for development of both timing and eye for the strike zone. The pitching machine is invaluable at helping develop these facets of good hitting.

One might reflexively assume a pitching machine might be expensive, enough so that one might not expect to see one except at a ballpark or a batting range. These days, however, pitching machines have been scaled down to where they are just right for boys and girls, and at that scale made to be as inexpensive as a better catcher's mitt, or even less expensive than that. Indeed these machines have become some of the most economical hitting aids one might find.

There are protective nets, looking like elongated rooms made out of mosquito netting, built to contain the batted balls when they are pitched, either by a pitching machine or by a cooperative practice pitcher. On the higher end of the price scale come the packages of equipment, often represented by famous major league players. With these packages also comes a good deal more differentiation between baseball and softball.

There is a lot more equipment once reserved for the practice field that is now available for home use. All of it is conveniently scaled down for smaller athletes, but sturdy to withstand those shots that are sure to come as their skills sharpen. This equipment is quite possibly sharpening the skills of future batting champions every day.




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