Baseball is famous worldwide, spawning different leagues for every age group possible, and if it has grabbed your attention or you wish to improve for where you are now, you’ll need to train. However, it usually takes years of practice to polish your skills, hit the ball out of the park, and make it to the big leagues. Luckily, plenty of training aids and practice equipment can speed up training while making it more effective.
Here are five baseball training essentials that can help improve all the skills you need in the sport, ranging from maneuvering, coordination to your overall batting performance.
Batting Cage
Although a batting cage may sound a bit excessive, it can help you tremendously in training as it helps you improve your speed pitch game, which is crucial since the pitcher’s weapon of throwing a fastball is surprisingly hard to master. Having a batting cage can catch even the fastest and powerful fastballs you can throw again and again—until you get it right.
These batting cages are available in various sizes to accommodate different players of varying ages and heights. There are other batting and hitting nets available, which you can use to keep the ball from getting to far after a hit.
Baseball Glove
It’s common sense to have a baseball when you intend on training for the sport, and what do you need to catch these? Baseball gloves. There are plenty of baseball gloves available from different brands, coming in various materials, sizes, designs, colors, and uses. To elaborate on the last one, here’s an example: catchers usually use a mitt, a baseball glove that’s generally larger than a conventional version and are specially designed to catch fastballs from pitchers.
Additionally, there are youth-sized and adult-sized baseball gloves you can choose from, and the ones for kids are usually smaller and have lower quality. Youth baseball gloves are available for $20 to $100, while you can buy adult ones from $50 to $300.
Baseball Bat
You can’t train for baseball if you don’t have a bat. Although there’s a ton of fun to experience by using a baseball glove alone and playing catch with friends, if you’re looking to make it into the big league, remember the sport involves hitting, and that means you’ll need a bat. There are different types of bats designed for kids and adults, where the selection will entirely depend on what works best for you.
However, adult bats usually have heavier and larger barrels since it’s easier to hit a baseball if you have a bigger barrel, so for training, it’s best to get a bat that’s as big as you can handle, meaning how long you can hold it and swing. Besides the barrel, the material also is a huge factor when choosing baseball bats. You can choose from anything, including aluminum and wood as the most common ones.
But in most leagues lower than professional baseball, they usually use metal bats, which hits the ball better. However, wooden bats are excellent too, and they’re typically customizable, so if you’re looking for something more personal, a wooden bat is a great choice. Baseball bats can go anywhere around $20 to $200 for youth models and up to $400 for adults.
Batting Helmet
If you’re going to be training for baseball for the first time, you’ll need a baseball helmet since baseballs tend to be very hard and can easily lead to injuries. Typical baseball helmets are made from durable plastic material and usually have thick padding on the inside for added safety and comfort. These typically range from $15 to $70 and are rated by the miles per hour of the baseball they can protect users from, meaning the higher the rating, the more expensive it is.
Baseball Cleats
Just like in soccer, in baseball, you’ll need to wear cleats. After all, you’re going to be around on grass and dirt for the entire duration of the game. The type of cleats you’ll need to wear depends on your age. For instance, younger players usually wear cleats made from rubber since they’re safe and provide enough traction but aren’t as uncomfortable as metal cleats. However, once an aspiring player is around middle school and beyond, they’ll need to wear metal cleats for better traction.
Baseball cleats come in different styles, and almost anything is allowed unless your coach requires you to wear matching ones with your team. Like all shoes, the price of cleats depends on the quality, brand, and material used to make the shoes—but you should be able to score a decent pair of cleats for $60 to $120.
Baseball is a sport that offers players an incredible amount of freedom, especially when it comes to choosing the things they’ll be using since some positions in the sport need specialized equipment and others need something a bit different. Regardless of what player position you’re in, when training, the items mentioned are the essentials you’ll need to train more efficiently and comfortably.