How To Design The Perfect Indoor Baseball And Softball Facility

Whether you’re looking to improve the standard of facilities available to your players or students, establish a new source of revenue or create an asset for the whole community, having an indoor space for year-round baseball or softball use is a hugely exciting prospect, bringing with it a string of big opportunities. Knowing exactly which elements you need to bring together under one roof can feel a little daunting, but here at Goat Turf, we’re proud to have designed some of America’s finest indoor sports training facilities. Obviously, no two facilities are exactly the same, and we’re the first to recognize that each and every one of our customers has their own unique needs, but here are some of the fundamentals to bear in mind as you look to make your dream indoor baseball or softball space a reality…

Playing surface

Clearly, the type of facility you create will be determined, first and foremost, by the room you have available. Are you able to incorporate an infield? Whether you’re planning on creating a facility that’s exclusively for either baseball or softball is of huge importance here, too, given a softball field’s dimensions are significantly smaller. (Softball, of course, was originally developed as a means of playing baseball indoors during the winter.) Then there’s the question of batting cages; you’re probably looking to include them, but if so, how many? Consider how flexible you want (or need) to be with your space, and whether you’re likely to be shifting things around from time to time depending on who’s using it. Whatever the make-up of your facility – and we’re here to help you decide how to lay things out from the get go – we’ll be providing you with the very best playing surface there is; Goat Turf are an exclusive provider of SYNLawn – the industry’s premier artificial turf.

Lighting

Something that’s easy to take for granted, but something that’s critical in the creation of your dream sports space; ultimately, the myriad advantages of having an indoor baseball or softball facility in the first place – the ability to train all year round, for one – are potentially going to be rendered meaningless if your lighting isn’t up to scratch. And there’s plenty to take into consideration here. For one, the facility has to be bright enough so that a ball itself – which, in baseball, can routinely travel at a speed of 100mph – can be accurately tracked. A higher ceiling may require more powerful lighting to keep the whole space sufficiently illuminated. And, just as significantly, the facility needs to be lit in a manner that’s uniform; if certain areas are brighter or darker than others, shadows can form, making it difficult for a player to track the ball precisely. It’s also worth remembering that durability is key – a rogue ball can do a lot of damage!

Netting

A means of dividing your facility into different sections but, more importantly, a leading safety feature, netting will have a huge role to play in the design of your dream indoor baseball or softball space. Both sports come with their obvious risks, and it’s critical to install netting around the field and around each cage to protect players and spectators alike. To contain the playing area further, it’s worth considering overhead netting, too. And, as with your lighting, your netting should be strong enough to hold up to the heavy impact generated by a powerfully struck ball or a player trying desperately to catch one. Similarly, to minimize visual disruption, your netting should ideally be black or dark color.

Other safety features

Safety goes way beyond netting, and it’s a theme you’ll have to keep coming back to with the design of every single element of your indoor baseball or softball facility. Padding, in many cases, will be a prerequisite, covering walls, pillars and anything else that a player has the potential to run into. For a facility that’s going to be entirely new, you’ll also have to think about ventilation, particularly your HVAC system, with a few degrees here and there potentially making a huge difference to the comfort of both players and spectators. Where the latter are concerned, it’s also important to think about what sort of viewing areas you’re going to make available (again, room permitting). We’ve already discussed the obvious need to protect spectators from flying baseballs and softballs, but viewing areas should be clearly delineated and designed with the user’s wellbeing in mind; if you don’t take those things into account in the planning stage, they can be very challenging to remedy further down the line.

Away from the turf…

It’s pointless going to the trouble of creating an all-singing, all-dancing baseball or softball facility if you’re not going to pay any attention to the space surrounding it. Depending on your individual circumstances, certain things may be out of your control, but where possible, you should be considering how you can utilize adjacent areas and rooms to maximize the overall experience for both players and spectators. Changing rooms are an obvious and, potentially, essential one. So too are restrooms, while meeting rooms and classrooms can add a professional feel. And if you’re really serious about wider athlete development, you could try and include some form of strength and conditioning room. Meanwhile, you can further cater for spectators and visitors by encompassing specialized waiting areas or even a small cafeteria.

Equipment

So, the skeleton of your facility is in place. Now it’s time to put some meat on the bones and think about some of the provisions that are likely to be among the first things your users will notice, regardless of how often they play. There are various different screens to consider, including L screens, sock screens and softball-specific screens. Pitching machines are likely to be another core element, though it goes without saying that the type you go with will depend very much on who’s using your facility; are you looking for something that can deliver a ball at up to 100mph, or will a straightforward soft toss machine do? Pitching mounds (or mats) are similarly significant though, again, the cost and composition involved can vary considerably. Batting tees and ball carriers are likely to be a feature of any facility and require comparatively little outlay. We probably don’t need to remind you about the bats and balls themselves – but do make sure you’ve got somewhere to store everything!

Finishing touches

Rounding off with a word on some of the more fun stuff, though – again – we acknowledge certain ideas mightn’t be practical for every facility. Firstly, as a SYNLawn provider, we’re able to offer a huge array of colors for your artificial turf, allowing you to customize your space in a way that truly reflects what you’re about. Dugouts, or even benches, provide an extra layer of consideration for users, and you should try and top everything off with a scoreboard – as with many of the elements covered above, there are plenty of options on the market, some more affordable and some more advanced.

Turnkey indoor sports facilities with Goat Turf

Our founder, Tyler Burnett, is a two-time facility owner and former MLB player, and there are few things we love more than helping our customers to create the perfect indoor sports facility. Reach out to us today to chat about our turnkey baseball and softball services – we’d be thrilled to work with you.