Good balls/tools for small backyard hitting practice

[sarge117]

Wanted to check to see if there were other things people were using for backyard batting practice.

I am big into tee work with my daughter, hitting into the jugs net.
Also do side soft toss into the net.

Do front toss bunting practice in the backyard

I would like to do some regular hitting front toss

The issue I run into is that the backyard is not very big, and I am not able to put a batting cage in the back.

With that I have found a couple of balls that are pretty good for backyard hitting that don't go very far.

First one I am sure you have all heard of.

TCB training balls
1/2 DOZEN TOTAL CONTROL BALLS

I like those however it probably is not a good idea to do a lot of hits with that because of it's weight.

The other I have found works well is Squidgey balls from Aerobe
Squidgie® Ball | AEROBIE® High Performance Sport Toys

They don't travel far when hit and are not as weighted as the tcb balls. However, due to there design they tend to slow down a bit more then a real softball would in the air.

Ideally I think a tcb ball that is not weighted as much would work best. I understand it would go farther but with the way it squishes on impact it probably still would not go to far.

I tried the jugs light flight balls but my daughter knocks those 4 houses down.

Is there anything else you guys/girls could recommend for good backyard front toss in a small yard?

 

[Perfect Circle]

I liked the glow in the dark concept.... might be worth a try...

 

[Greenmonsters]

Are you using the 15 oz baseball-sized TCB balls? They are ideal, whereas the SB-sized TCBs are too heavy.

DD's U18 TB went to the TCBs exclusively for pre-game warm ups. No net wrastling required, hard front toss from approx. 20 feet. $1 for hitting the coach pitching eliminated "ho-hum going through the motion swings" and generated good, aggresive swings that improved the results of the players' first at bat of the game.

 

[MsDinosaur]

I'm gonna say what I always say: TCB balls are awesome. You will not regret having them.

My recommendation is to buy a dozen. If you wait and watch the e-tailers, you can get a deal on a dozen, either something like $10 off or free shipping. If you buy a half dozen, it will run you around $65. Better to just spend $100 and get a full dozen.

Yes, you probably don't want to have her cycle through the dozen TCBs more than a couple of times (how old/strong is she?), but when you mix that in with your other backyard drills, it should make for a really nice session.

P.S. I notice that Eastbay has free shipping on orders over $75 right now.

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

Has anyone tried this one yet?

The Mojo Ball

 

[sarge117]

Anyone have experience with the TCB Hole balls?

How far do they go when hit?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

TCB balls with the holes go pretty far. 40-60 feet, maybe? I use both sizes of those.

 

[sarge117]

Has anyone tried this one yet?

The Mojo Ball

I ordered the free sample. I'll let you know

 

[sarge117]

Anyone ever try pwr baseballs?
PWR Baseball, Weighted baseball for batting practice, training, power hitting and soft toss

They are weighted at 10oz vs 15oz for the TCB ball and the standard 6.6 oz of typical 12u ball.

Not sure how far they go. The website makes no mention of not swinging too much at that ball like the TCB site does. That doesn't prove anything.

Wonder how far they go.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Weighing back in again... Something else we've used are foam golf balls. I found a metal range bucket packaged with 4 dozen yellow ones in the golf section at Walmart for about $15. They don't go very far, are so light-weight that they won't hurt anything anyway and are cheap enough that you don't mind losing a few here and there. Despite being very close when I front-toss them, DD hasn't really hurt me with one yet.