Batting Cage Balls

Patriot44 · Dec 5, 2017

A fellow coach and I have been taking our 10U/11U team to indoor batting cages for most of this past year when the weather was bad or just stop in and hit 50 or 60 when we had spare time.

Recently, all of the boys complain about bat vibration and their hands hurting, really bad. To the point, the are all not wanting to swing the bat.

The cage balls are regular baseballs and not the dimple balls. Is it possible that over time (the balls are worn out IMO) that the balls have hardened?

Thanks for any advise. :cheers:

DannyW · Dec 5, 2017

Unless the batting cage was brand new or had just replaced all their balls when you started this year, the first time you went there the boys were hitting balls that presumably had already been hardened by being hit hundreds of times.

It's an average of 20-30 degrees cooler now than it was in mid-summer. Not an expert on metal bats, or baseball composition, but it would seem reasonable that the "feel" could be affected by a 20-30 degree temperature drop on both the bats/balls. I know from experience that hitting golf balls in the winter feels completely different than in the summer, and the slightest off-center contact can really sting.

Easy way to find out...try a different batting cage and see if you have different results.

oops1 · Dec 5, 2017

Regular baseballs get soft over time...never seen one get harder from use

treemanjohn · Dec 5, 2017

oops1 said:
Regular baseballs get soft over time...never seen one get harder from use

Correct.

Vibration comes from poor contact with the ball. They have bad form most likely from playing over the course of the year.

sinclair1 · Dec 5, 2017

Difference in mph from machine to kid pitcher?

BDD · Dec 5, 2017

Been around the game for a long time, spent thousands on bats. I made a tool a few years ago to test bats. Basically just put
A wooden handle on a good quality baseball. You can take the top of the line bat. Let’s just say an Easton Mako, bought one last
Year for $375, It’s amazing the difference in vibration in just hitting the bat a few inch apart makes. I did this to find the “sweet spot”
There’s a very small window on the bat were there’s no vibration and all energy is transferred to the ball. And with the new composite bats
It might be different on one side from the other, all depends on which side is broken in better. We even tape a piece of paper on the hot spot
And try to teach the kids to hit the ball on the paper. (just in BP).

CAnderson · Dec 5, 2017

Cage balls are harder. They don't look or weigh any different but are more solid to stand up to thousands of hits compared to game balls that wouldn't last a month in a heavily used cage.

But the boys still shouldn't have issues with vibration if they are using correct form and hitting the ball in the "sweet spot". Lots of coaches get caught up on number of swings with "close enough" form while in the cages. I prefer to spend 3/4 of the time at the cages working on the batting tee, soft toss, over/under wrist drill, and drilling on them about form. Then do live pitch to make sure it sets in on what you working on.
Just my .02

ryanh487 · Dec 5, 2017

batting gloves will help

Batting Cage Balls

Patriot44

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DannyW

Senior Member

oops1

Buzzard Expert

treemanjohn

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sinclair1

Senior Member

BDD

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CAnderson

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ryanh487

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