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A New World Of Baseball Hitting Aids

By Agnes Dickson


Any young batter will seek the right equipment as he or she tries to make the most of natural talent. It doesn't hurt if the youngster is gifted with cat-like reflexes and sharp eyesight, but there is no substitute for a balanced, economical swing. Only repetitions hone this sort of swing, and without baseball hitting aids it is quite difficult getting those kind of repetitions when batting is interrupted by collecting balls from over the field.

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.

With a portable screen added to hitting practice, a batter can not only use the tee all afternoon but won't have to interrupt practice by spending time going out after the balls he or she has crushed. Many nets also have brightly colored targets that are stitched into the net to show the player where and how well they are nailing the ball. Screens and tees are useful for practicing both baseball and softball, and are typically built to stay put on windy days.

The entire problem of catching the batted ball before it flies off is altogether avoided by using a swing tee. With such a tee the ball is fixed to an arm that swings around an axis, that arm being parallel to the practice field itself. When the ball is struck it quickly is whipped about its stalk, then snaps back relatively slowly.

Any sort of batting tee is good enough for honing one's form through repetition, but none can simulate the action of being pitched to by a real pitcher. Unfortunately, needing to have a pitcher to practice with almost always means having to cut down on the repetitions one needs, not just with form, but to practice seeing the ball into the strike zone and timing that first move to ball. Here, a pitching machine is a crucial piece of equipment.

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.

One might look to buying protection nets for the back yard, looking like rooms or hallways woven out of fishing nets, for practicing with a pitching machine or with a practice pitcher. Those who don't mind something more pricey can look to the packages of equipment, quite often sponsored by a big name star. With packages one does see more of a difference between baseball and its cousin, 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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