In baseball, there are many accessories and items that you can use during practice to hone or improve your skills in batting, pitching, and catching. For batting, one of the most common items used for practice is the hitting net. If you are new to baseball, you probably aren’t familiar with the term “hitting net.” To help you know more about it, here are some details about the hitting net and its benefits for baseball practice.
What is a Hitting Net?
A hitting net is a type of practice equipment that has a rectangular or square frame that is made of metal, and within that frame, you will have a net that has a basket-like section in the middle. The basket at the middle of the hitting net will serve as the catcher for the balls you will be hitting during batting practice.
So, the hitting net would basically help you gather balls faster whenever you are practicing your batting skills alone, as the net would ensure that the balls would only go in one place. Without a hitting net, you will most likely have to get baseballs from far away within the field, which would take a lot of effort and time. So, to prevent the hassle of getting the balls back again during batting practice, you should set up a hitting net so that you can gather the balls in one place instead of being scattered on the field.
What are the Benefits of a Hitting Net?
There are various benefits of using a hitting net for baseball. Most of the benefits that will be mentioned below are related to the hitting net’s convenience for practice. So, without further ado, here are details about the benefits of a hitting net.
Make It Easier to Retrieve Balls
Like what was mentioned in the previous parts of this article, the hitting net’s main benefit is to make it much easier for you to retrieve balls since the net will catch almost every single ball that you hit during batting practice. You have the option of not using the hitting net for practice, but you should be willing to spend extra time retrieving baseballs on the field or in your house’s backyard. If you want to spend more time improving your batting skills, then you should get a hitting net so that you don’t have to worry about wasting minutes and hours retrieving baseballs.
Improves Your Accuracy
With a hitting net, you would often want to hit the middle of the net consistently. So, by repeatedly trying to hit the middle of the hitting net, you will be able to improve your accuracy over time. This is greatly beneficial for baseball players that don’t have expert control over where the ball will go after they hit it, as they will have a faster and more convenient way of improving their accuracy by using a hitting net.
Practice Different Types of Hits or Swings with Ease
Besides improving your accuracy, a hitting net can also help you practice different types of hits or swing with relative ease. Since you don’t have to spend a lot of time retrieving the balls you hit through a hitting net, you can spend extra time practicing different hits or swings, such as linear and rotational. The rotational hit is a very difficult type of swing to master, as you would need other parts of your body to cooperate with your hands to curve the trajectory of the ball a little bit to make it harder to catch since outfielders will have a difficult time guessing where the ball will fall. So, to be a more effective hitter in the game, you would have to practice different types of hits and swings, and the practicing process would be made easier by using a hitting net.
Prevent Yourself from Hitting Fragile Objects
If you are practicing batting in your backyard, there will be chances that you will hit windows and other fragile objects in your house or in the neighbor’s property. To prevent that mishap from happening, you should use a hitting net so that the balls you will hit won’t go anywhere but at the middle of the net or below it. Besides the backyard, the hitting net can also be used in other areas where a baseball field is not available, such as gyms, small parks, and spacious rooms.
Practice Outside the Field
As stated previously, you have the opportunity to practice your batting skills even if you are not on the baseball field, thanks to the hitting net, which you can use in various wide and spacious areas. The hitting net also allows you to have more time to practice batting since you would usually only have a few hours to practice on the field, and with a hitting net, you can practice in times where you can’t go to the baseball field. But, be sure that the area where you will be practicing is safe so that no one and nothing will get hurt or damaged.
Get More Time to Practice with a Batting Trainer
If your team has a batting trainer or if you hired one, you will get more time to practice with your trainer since you can use the hitting net to serve as a practice platform if you are not practicing on the baseball field. With the hitting net, you can practice with the trainer in areas outside of the field, which would then give you more time to absorb lessons from the trainer. The trainer can also benefit from the hitting net, as he or she can use it to demonstrate different batting techniques and forms.
And, those are the benefits of using a hitting net for baseball. If you do get a hitting net, you should also purchase a pitching machine so that you will be able to practice alone without the need to invite a friend or a family member to pitch for you. Those two pieces of practice equipment are essential if you want to improve your batting skills.