Quick Take
We tested Dick’s Sporting Goods’ HitTrax setup for bat fitting and learned key takeaways about swing weight, grip, launch angles, and exit velocity. With free access to advanced technology and a wide bat selection, it’s a unique opportunity for players to refine their bat choice.
We spent time in Dick’s Sporting Goods (Henderson, Nevada location) with their HitTrax set up to do some bat fitting and a home run derby.
Here’s what we learned.
4 Things to Notice for Bat Fitting in a HitTrax Cage
We’ve hit with every baseball and fastpitch bat since 2014. Over those years, we’ve learned a bit about what you can and cannot tell from a bat in cage off a tee.
See Dick’s Sporting Goods, their HitTrax setupThe Cages locations, and information.
Here are the four things you should pay attention to as you take the bat in a DSG cage with HitTrax.
1. The Swing Weight
2. The Grip Taper
3. Launch Angle
It would be worth it if HitTrax did nothing but show us the launch angle. Launch angle is an essential factor in determining success at the plate. Although the foam balls might not fly like normal baseballs, the launch angle doesn’t lie. When all the data is assessed, between similar results, we will choose the bat that gave us the better launch angle in a HitTrax batting cage.
4. Exit Speed
Exit velocity is another aspect we think is significantly helpful when choosing one bat over another. Note, however, that any average with less than thirty hits is NOT adequate to measure actual exit speeds. In other words, we would take the two bats you are considering and swing them no fewer than thirty times in a HitTrax cage. Then, note your average exit velocity. All other things being equal (including swing weight), we’d prefer a bat with higher exit speed over lower exit speeds.
That said, note that a bat with a heavier swing weight WILL give you a higher exit speed. That assumes, of course, that you can swing it just as fast. Our experience with tee work is that it overestimates your ability to get the bat on the ball for heavier bats. This is why we prefer launch angle over exit speed when doing tee work.
In any event, exit velocity can be, and should be, considered when using a HitTrax batting cage at a Dicks Sporting Goods. (Even if the balls are foam).
Bat Selection Fantastic
Where DSG’s HitTrax batting cages shine is in their bat selection. In the DSG we visited in Las Vegas, about forty different bats (including fastpitch) were available for trying. According to the person manning The Cages booth, they were willing to use a floor model if they had it available, but it wasn’t available in The Cages. Based on what they had in stock, we picked the litter in terms of bat and bat sizing.
In other words, if you don’t see the bat you want to try in the cage, don’t be ashamed to find out if they have a floor model you might be able to swing.
On our visit, we saw:
- DeMarini
- Slugger
- Rawlings
- Easton
Online vs. Brick and Mortar Bat Buying
Although the exact number is unknown, about 50% of performance baseball bats are bought online. Considering that most of those bats are purchased without the player ever holding that model in their hands and can come with price tags hovering around $500, even one out of two bats bought online is remarkable. In many ways, and we’ve been there, we spend our money online for a bat and then hold our breath—hoping the bat is the right size, right power, right weight balance, right performance, right league, and proper grip.
You can imagine the need for as much information as possible when buying a bat. Hence, this site attempts to advise real players and parents about what bat to buy, mostly online. And hence, DSG HitTrax batting cages are another piece in the information puzzle, allowing picking from the bats you’ve narrowed it down to after reading our reviews.
HitTrax Batting Cage Near You
We appreciate Dick’s Sporting Goods’ effort to improve the baseball bat experience at their brick-and-mortar stores. They also do a considerable amount of business online.
DSG’s addition of HitTrax and bat fitting to their brick-and-mortar stores might be the most significant stride in the in-person bat experience we have observed. At the time of this writing, about 150 Dick’s Sporting Goods use a HitTrax Batting cage. (See all their locations here).
We spent about an hour in and around The Cages at DSG in Vegas, and here are just a few of the things we learned. You could learn them, too.
- What bat length generates the best exit speed for me?
- What grip type and model work best for me?
- How much difference I can generate between a USA and USSSA bat?
- The difference in performance on fastpitch bats.
- How does the new model of any given bat compare to an older model?
- How far can I hit a ball off a tee?
HitTrax Batting Cage Cost
Dick’s Sporting Goods HitTrax Batting Cages are free. Yes, you read that right.
We showed up on a Friday just before noon, and it was wide open. During our time there (we spent about an hour goofing around with it), only one other group came by, and they were there for less than 10 minutes. We built some BP stamina, so we could have gone longer.
Other batting cages around the country use the HitTrax system. But we couldn’t find a list even directly on the HitTrax site. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ list is here.
Foam Balls vs Leather Baseballs
Our experience with the HitTrax readings matched well with the exit speeds we generated in our testing. In other words, we think the readings were accurate and matched well with the different bats we used. In that sense, The Cages are highly useful and provide an experience that most can’t find anywhere else.
We posted a couple of DSG and The Cages images on our Instagram feed. Immediately, several folks responded, saying they didn’t like the foam balls used in The Cages at Dick’s Sporting Goods. In some sense, we agree—it does lose a bit of its luster when comparing expensive bats to hitting a foam ball, not a real leather baseball or softball. It is also harder to tell how a bat feels on a mishit with a foam ball over a leather one.
That said, we could tell when we mishit a ball. Granted, it didn’t hurt our hands like a real baseball would off an actual pitch, but most hitters can tell just fine when they don’t square up a ball. We didn’t need real baseballs for that. Also, we saw accurate average launch angles and exit speeds with the foam balls–which we think are one of the most significant variables when doing tee work.
With all that said, we’d rather see actual balls than foam ones if we were there to hit. (If we were there to buy a glove or just wander the store, we would instead not be bombarded by the overwhelming ping of the Rawlings Velo :) ). And, since we’re making a wish list, we’d rather see live pitching over tee work. (If we had to choose just one, we’d take live/machine pitching). But you can’t beat the price (free), location (for most people), or bat selection.
Are there any batting cages in your neighborhood that have a HitTrax and a full-on batting cage with every bat, size, and model for you to try?
Are they free?
If so, then count yourself as one of the lucky ones. Most of us are stuck building our own in the backyard or traveling hours to a busy and expensive batting cage for a selection of bats we have to bring.
Dick’s Sporting Goods is SERIOUS about Baseball Bats
If you are in the retail space, you know that square footage is everything. Brick-and-mortar stores dedicate areas of their stores to what they care the most about.
The addition of nearly 200 additional square feet dedicated to bats is a sign of their seriousness. They are serious about being the one-stop shop for fitting baseball and softball bats.
Other bat stores, usually one-offs in bigger cities, often have the batting cage/HitTrax luxury. But, if any store is going to get personalized exit speed and launch angles into the hands of the players in cities across America, our bet is its Dick’s Sporting Goods.
