Hitting in a cage

Questions here about how some batter's swings are changed when hitting in a cage...

I've always taught my DDs to just hit the ball hard, that's it.
Inside, outside, high and low just hit it hard.
Hitting my DDs in our batting cages, if its a jammed inside pitch, the ball slams into the left side of the net...(left field)
Outside pitches get slammed into the opposite side of the net (right field)
And I teach them to hit with a +20 to 25 degree exit angle, so then it crashes into the top of the cage, if its up the middle.

But I'm seeing alot of girls who hit in batting cages who are taught to hit the ball directly down the middle of the cage, at all costs, when they are in a batting cage.
Meaning, if the pitch is inside they are overcompensating and really opening up to try to hit the ball back up the middle.
If the pitch is outside they are really stepping into it...to try to hit it up the middle.

Some of these girls are also putting 0 degrees of exit angle into the ball to try to get the ball to go straight up the middle of the cage, without the top of the cage.

Do you think the modifications they are making to their swing to ensure they are hitting the ball directly up the middle of the cage is advantageous, or detrimental?

Like I said, I'm just teaching my DDs to just hit the ball hard.
And if it slams into either side of the cage, with an inside or outside pitch, or if it hits the top of the cage with a +20 degree exit angle...so be it.

What's your view on this?

Thanks

Hit the ball where its pitched. For right handed hitters, inside pitches need hit out front of the plate and driven to left field, outside pitches are hit deeper onto the plate, and meatballs are driven to center field.
Hitting in a cage is supposed to be a tool for implementing good mechanics, getting lots of reps, without wasting half the time picking up balls! If that time is spent teaching the kids to barrel release early and wrap so that outside pitches are up the middle... you've been counterproductive!

I would say "it depends". If it's a hitter that is a speed player and is trying to hit straight up the middle for consistent singles then hitting the back of a cage is probably a good visual/audible queue.

If it's a power hitter (or most other) then I agree with you that the hitter should be focused on launch angle and the back wall of cage is probably irrelevant (unless its a huge cage) and could prove detrimental if that's where the focus is being placed. It sounds cool to slam the back of the cage and make a lot of noise, but they have to be aware of distances and angles, and in most cages I've seen the distance to wall/back is somewhere is neighborhood of 60' or less. If they know that distance from home to 2nd is about 85' then they'll probably realize where they're really hitting. I wish cages would post front to back distances and net height. I couldn't find it, but there is a great video somewhere on YouTube that transposes cage hits to on field hits. If anyone has a link to that video could you share please? The ones that look good in the cage actually prove to be low line drives/one hoppers/line outs to infield.

A visual queue DD uses is to hold her hand out with pinky perpendicular to ground with fingers spread normally, space between middle & ring finger is then pointing somewhere in the vicinity of 25 degrees (that's for her hand, put a protractor against DD's hand to get general angle location). Of course this doesn't account for contact height, but at least gives her a general mental image of actual field vs cage and where she's shooting for in cage for inside/middle/out pitches.

I doubt she would use it, but always wanted to get her a laser angle finder to keep in her bag. Set that at desired launch angle and on top of a tee and she could rotate and trace angle from foul line to foul line and see exactly where the angle lands on cage.

Agree 100% with coach james.

It depends on the length of your cage, as well. We want our girls hitting the top, back corners of the net on balls towards the middle. Hit the top a little earlier, that's fine, but not middle of our cage. Just don't want them thinking all fly balls are the same. A good visual is a brightly colored rope ran around the net. Tell them you want the ball higher than the rope.

We also went with the ropes around the net. Our cage is so low and short that anything that doesn't hit the top of the cage is at best a 1 hopper to an infielder.