In previous articles, we've covered sports such as bottle cap games or slow-throw softball that can replace baseball and softball. Through these "baseball meal replacements", we can still enjoy baseball and softball even under conditions where the equipment on the field does not allow.
But even with these baseball meal replacements, there may be careful readers who find that there is still a small problem: although slow base or bottle cap games can solve problems such as venue and equipment, unless you just want to practice the pitching skills of slow softball or bottle cap loss, you still need a sufficient number of friends to start the game.
Image source: tennessean.com
So, is there another activity that allows us to enjoy baseball and softball even if there are only one person, even if the number is small, or even gain training results?
Of course, there are, and today we bring you such a baseball single meal.
It may be that the name "indoor baseball" will make many people feel uncomfortable at first, but in fact, many people have seen or experienced it. The so-called "indoor baseball" actually refers to indoor venues such as baseball batting halls, indoor pitcher mounds, strike cages, or indoor venues where batting, pitching, and defensive training can be performed.
Strike cage Image source: Mitch Lums tubing
Although baseball is still relatively niche in China, in some cities such as Beijing and Shanghai that have a certain baseball foundation and sufficient audience, indoor strike halls have become an important choice for many baseball fans to improve their daily training ability.
Shenzhen's indoor baseball batting experience hall Source: Shenzhen City Affairs
As a baseball batting hall, the most indispensable thing is the baseball tee machine. Baseball serve machines are usually available in both rocker and revolver types. The rocker type is relatively simple, that is, the connecting rocker arm is rotated by a motor, and then the baseball placed on the rocker arm is thrown out, and the principle is somewhat similar to the trebuchet in ancient warfare. The ball speed can be adjusted by adjusting the speed of the rocker arm, but usually only straight balls can be served.
Image source: latimes
Compared with the rocker arm type, the upper limit of ball speed can be achieved by the rotation of the two rubber wheels and the ball wheel type. And by adjusting the tilt angle of the two wheels, you can send out simple change balls such as sliding balls and curved balls, thereby increasing the difficulty of training. Therefore, the serve machines used by many professional teams for training are basically rotary.
To say more, it is said that two years ago, there was also a Japanese sports company developed a jet serve machine that can reach a speed of 160 + km / h, through the sudden increase in air pressure in the narrow pipe space to launch a baseball, the principle is almost similar to the artillery, but due to the excessive power, I have not heard of any strike hall with this kind of god equipment, if any golfer is located in the city really opened such a shop, please be sure to let us know, let us also go to see it.
Source: Republic Technology Research Co., Ltd. official website
Whether it is a rotary wheel or a rocker, as the most basic configuration of the baseball batting hall, the serve machine is the majority of baseball enthusiasts to train to improve the ability to hit the weapon, because the ball speed of the serve machine can be set, so many baseball batting halls will set each serve in a fixed speed range, and some baseball halls have more than one fairway, different fairways will be set to different difficulty of the ball speed, so everyone can reasonably choose the right percussion hall and serve machine according to their own level for practice, Improve your strike ability more effectively.
Source: Field force tubing
So how do we choose the strike arena and tee fairway that suits our level? Usually the easier way is that when you first come to a strike hall that you are not familiar with, you can first ask the staff what the speed setting of the tee machine in the stadium is about, and then if someone is already hitting, first observe for yourself whether the speed of the ball machine is similar to the speed of the ball you can usually hit. If you feel that there will be an error in the judgment of the naked eye, the best way is to buy a few tokens first, starting with the fairway with the lowest ball speed in the playing hall, and trying one by one until you find the fairway that suits your level. Of course, the so-called level of suitability here means that the ball speed is challenging for yourself, but you can ensure that a certain percentage of the serve can be hit more solidly. If you do your best to rub the stick and hit the ball out of bounds, then it means that this machine has exceeded your level, not only does not help you much in improving your technology, but also may increase your risk of injury. So be sure to find a tee fairway that really suits your level.
Source: Shanghai Jing'an Social Media
And considering that most of the strike halls are usually gourmet restaurants, the deliciousness of the food is also a very important indicator, oh, if there is a beautiful waiter sister, it is simply perfect, but please pay attention to the possibility that the waiter sister hit the level of your explosion.
Therefore, as a baseball lover, on holidays or after work, about three or five friends to go to the hit hall to play a pain, and then drink together, not only to improve the level of baseball, but also a good place for the team to get together and enhance the feelings of teammates.
Image source: Ken D tubing
But if your city doesn't have a hit pavilion yet, and you don't have to be discouraged, we still have alternatives to choose from, and we can also practice solo efficiently.
At this time, all you need is a blocking net, a T-block, a bat and several balls, baseball softball, official game balls, rubber balls or serve machine balls. With these equipment, you can practice pitching against the net, use the T-block for percussion practice, and if you can find a like-minded friend, you can even practice more complex baseball combinations such as passing and catching, bocce ball, golf ball, etc. As long as you have a heart that truly loves baseball and softball and a persistence that wants to really improve your level, you can find a baseball training that suits you no matter what, and keep improving!
Source: eejuice tubing
Does your city also have this kind of place where you can play happily? Share it in the comments section to let more people know!