The skills of the players in your baseball team are only as excellent as the time they spend on practicing them. By training them with the appropriate baseball training aids and practice equipment, you’ll see them do their best. You can evaluate their movements and recommend how they can perform better.
Whether you’re new to the game or a veteran, you might have come across the following training equipment. Nonetheless, check them out and find something new to use for your team’s next practice.
Radar Speed Gun
Speed matters a lot in baseball. You need a top-of-the-line radar gun to measure your player’s hitting, pitching, and running speeds. Primarily, radar speed guns are used to measure a pitcher’s strength. Very young kids who get into the game are picked as pitchers based on how strong their arms are. The stronger a player is, the faster he can throw the ball, which means more strikes for the opposing team.
Batting Tee
Using a batting tee helps players improve their hand-eye coordination and proper tee positioning. It also keeps their swing sharp. It is the best training aid for potential hitters.
Pitching Machine
Aside from batting tees, pitching machines also help hitters practice their swing. With a pitching machine, they can practice batting all day long.
Rebounders and Pitchback Nets
For your fielders, get them a couple of rebounders and pitch-back nets. These nets come in different sizes; there are hand-held ones and ones that attached to a rectangular frame. These training aids help fielders to practice pinpoint throwing and develop their skills in fielding balls.
When choosing the right rebounder, make sure that it’s robust and stable. It should have a straightforward assembly, multiple angels, and accompanying accessories.
Target Swing Trainer
A target swing trainer is a pole with a baseball attached at the end of it. The swing trainer is either held by a person or is attached to a vertical pole as a player swings a bat to hit the ball.
The target swing trainer is a great one-on-one coaching tool for teaching the correct swing mechanics to players. With repeated training, you help players develop their strength in rotational hitting.
Batting Cage
Batting cages are used to practice batting skills without requiring an entire field. It is an enclosed net that is either in a dome or rectangular shape. Its size is typically enough to house a batter at one end, and a pitching machine and a hitting net at the other end. It’s an equipment that requires a vast space but provides the safety of a net. It can be installed in a playing field, or if you have space at home, it can be put up in your backyard. It’s the perfect tool for hitters who want to practice batting even when at home.
Baseball training aids are wildly popular and are used by players of ages and skill levels. So if you think that you’re cheating, think again. Everybody uses them during practice. They are as important as the protective gear players are wearing.
Other training aids that you can use are poles, agility training ladders, resistance speed chutes, lateral resistors, and training hurdles. Other accessories you might also need include boundary poles, ball carry carts, batter’s eye screen, and marker cones.