Batting Cages, Bullpens Coming To Two District Parks

Boca Raton baseball players are about to find it easier to fine tune their skills.

Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District Commissioners are well into the process of adding and upgrading baseball training features at two District parks.

“When kids are better at a sport they tend to stick around and they tend to enjoy it more,” said Boca Raton Little League vice-president Eric Sauer, who addressed Commissioners at a public meeting requesting the features. “It's all really just for the kids to have a good time, for them to have fun.”

When Sauer and other Boca Raton Little League officials presented their request for batting cages and bullpen mounds - which will be available to the entire community - Commissioners agreed upon the need, and acted quickly.

“They were like, Well shoot, if we need this let's get it done and get it done quickly,” Sauer said of the Commissioners' actions.

Sugar Sand Park, home to six baseball fields primarily used by youth teams, will receive many of the upgrades. 

To aid hitters, two batting cages where they can hit off pitching will be completed in the coming weeks. They'll compliment the two cages already at the park. In addition four soft-toss hitting stations, where batters fine tune their swings by hitting underhand-pitched balls into a net a few feet away, are coming to the park.

For the pitchers, four bullpen pitching mounds that can be used for training or game warm-up are being shaped.

Similar upgrades are coming to Patch Reef Park, home of three baseball/softball fields. Like Sugar Sand, Patch Reef is receiving four soft-toss hitting stations. They will complement the batting cages already in use there. Three pitching mounds are also being added. 

“One of the biggest deficiencies of Little League is pitching, which is why we asked for bullpens as well,” Sauer said. “It's a feature we've never had. Now we'll have seven across the two parks.”

Additional lighting has been added for all the new features, allowing for use day or night during regular park hours. Drainage in the areas where the features are being installed is also being improved.

Unlike many South Florida hitting stations supported by one-inch thick piping, the new hitting cages and stations are being constructed using six-inch piping, which will increase durability and help limit downtime where the cables supporting the nets have to be restrung.

More than 600 Boca Raton youths participated in Little League baseball this past spring season.

Shiff Construction, the company that built the recently completed all-inclusive playground at Patch Reef, has been contracted to install the baseball features.

Most of the new features are expected to be available for use by the end of September.