Using baseballs instead of softballs?

[bjenkins24]

Softballs are expensive they also tend to get lost. I have about 30 or so, but in a perfect world I would love a hundred+ for practice. I do a lot of station work and the more you have the less time wasted chasing after balls.

Baseballs are way cheaper and if kids are just hitting or fielding, without throwing, is there any harm in just using baseballs? Since they're smaller maybe even it's better? I already have ~100 baseballs for my son, so if I included those that would get me a lot closer to where I would want to be. I would definitely make sure anywhere the girls were throwing they would be using softballs though.

Are there any downsides I'm missing?

 

[Gtrips07]

Besides breaking bats?

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[YOCOACH]

Basaeballs will damage/crack/break composite bats. Heck, with a high enough swing speed, you'll be sending Anderson Rocketechs back and trying to get it covered under warranty. (Been there, done that)

 

[quincy]

DD occasionally hit baseball's with her SB bat. We have pretty much have done everything posters have said is a bad idea without an Issue.

Especially younger players you will see thier bat bounce backwards at contract. SB might be bigger and easier to hit but you need more umh into it.

If you would like to play a little bit with a baseball hide behind a screen. I would not incorporate them into a Team practice.

 

[cnardone]

you are going to spend so much frigging money on this, another dozen balls every 2 years is a drop in the bucket

 

[quincy]

I know we OP is going and liked the question. A better question might be where can I find inexpensive balls for battinv practice?

Other posters have better experience then me including getting game used balls at TB tournaments.

 

[_MIA_]

If you want to get use out of your baseballs you can have the girls use a wood bat to hit front toss or use a small (aluminum) bat to do top hand hitting off of front toss (see below; I do this with my 12 YO DD). Don't use them with regular composite softball bats.

 

[Westwind]

College dd used her school issued LXT to hit mushy yellow Rawlings baseballs in our cage last summer, which we did a lot when she was younger.

Even behind a screen I felt like I was dodging bullets. I’m too old to be dragged out of my shed toes up with Rawlings imprinted on my forehead. I decided it wasn’t any fun for me and went back to softballs.

She hit slow machine baseballs quite a bit at her batting coaches spot. (I think he uses pearls not dimples. I can’t remember.) Her highest exit speed on Rapsodo with baseballs was 99 mph. For her, that’s 25-30 mph faster than softballs.

People act like the world will come to an end if you use baseballs. It won’t, especially if your kids are young. And I wouldn’t be afraid to have kids throw them a little.

 

[Towny9]

College dd used her school issued LXT to hit mushy yellow Rawlings baseballs in our cage last summer, which we did a lot when she was younger.

Even behind a screen I felt like I was dodging bullets. I’m too old to be dragged out of my shed toes up with Rawlings imprinted on my forehead. I decided it wasn’t any fun for me and went back to softballs.

She hit slow machine baseballs quite a bit at her batting coaches spot. (I think he uses pearls not dimples. I can’t remember.) Her highest exit speed on Rapsodo with baseballs was 99 mph.

People act like the world will come to an end if you use baseballs. It won’t, especially if your kids are young. And I wouldn’t be afraid to have kids throw them a little.

Especially younger kids. I 100% believe that throwing a baseball will help teach a better arm path because the smaller hands grip the ball better. When you give a softball to a girl that hands aren’t quite there yet, she will overcompensate by getting under the ball and pushing it when she throws.

 

[Westwind]

Especially younger kids. I 100% believe that throwing a baseball will help teach a better arm path because the smaller hands grip the ball better. When you give a softball to a girl that hands aren’t quite there yet, she will overcompensate by getting under the ball and pushing it when she throws.

In a perfect world kids are running around throwing rocks, sticks, bottles, bricks, footballs, basketballs, and… well water bottles!