Batting cage???

[vdubya]

Vdubya that one looks huge. What Length do y'all recommend? I think 70 is more than I need.

Chad

"That's what she said!"
Chad, mine went up in 2004 and it was built to weather the elements year in, year out. We have three boys and three girls. The cage is large enough to 'grow up' with the kids hitting and full distance pitching up to 60'6" without being cramped...so it is 70' in length. Those were two high priorities when I built. If I were to do it again, and I DEFINITELY WOULD, I would do some things differently.

First, besides the size needs that the pitching distances require, I sort of thought of the whole project as 'enclosing an area for pitching machine work'. As such, the machine would move back as the kids and their field dimensions grew. If I knew then what I know now...

We NEVER use a pitching machine anymore, and I mean NOT EVER. Not since the first couple of years have we even bothered to get it out of the shed. Don't mis-understand, we do use the cage very heavily, but a pitching machine is just not part of the equation. What I'm getting at: figure out how you will be using the cage and the 'how it will be used' will give you your dimensions. If my ground were flat and my pitchers could pitch TOWARDS the cage instead of IN the cage, then I would be fine with a length of around 35-40 feet for our hitting needs.

I could go on about what I would do the same and different, but I'll spare you. I will say that there are trade offs no matter how you go about this. You have to figure out your priorities and then make the choices, but there WILL be tradeoffs. Also, realize that with any cage, you will still want to go to the field and do long tee, etc on a regular basis. If nothing else, you will see the results of the cage work and verify the progress on an actual ball diamond.

I'll end my rambling by saying that 2014 is year ten for our cage. Ten years later we use it more than ever, though not all of my kids still choose to play a diamond sport.
Cheers,
VW

 

[99Lefty]

This is our cage . I used two 20' shelter logic buildings together. This leaves us 32' from release point of machine to home plate in the winter. We can open the end in the summer and get 39' or whatever we want. We mainly use Baden brand balls out of the machine but we can use real balls too.

 

[slingnit]

Should be simple using 4x4 steel tubing and c purlin with 10' spans. you could go 20x50. Anything smaller than 6x6 wood posts would worry me, round poles would work but they taper to the top and if you enclose the structure it may not look as good as it would with straight posts. Plus wood rots, termites, all the other stuff to think about long term.

 

[humpty]

Got a deal on a net 60'x12hx10'w. What size poles should I use and how many?. I was thinking 14ft 2 3/8" fence posts. Should I do 4 sets of poles 3sections 20' spacing