Being a baseball player doesn’t just happen between March and October, it’s a year round gig. The off season is a time to stay on top of your game, refine your skills, and improve your abilities. Since baseball is an outside sport, you often have to be creative when figuring out how to accomplish these tasks during the cold Winter months. Here are a few tips:

Indoor Batting Cage: Check to see if your town has an indoor batting cage. This is a great way to keep your batting eye sharp and your timing down, both critical to being successful at baseball. If there isn’t a local indoor batting cage, try your local YMCA, or get your own portable baseball pitching machine and set it up at your local gym or rec center.

Baseball Hitting Aides: If there are no available batting cages and you have no place to set up a pitching machine, there are other options. The Hit-Away is a baseball attached to a rubber band. Attach the Hit Away to any pole and when you hit it, it wraps around the pole and as it unwinds you hit it again. You can also hit off a tee, or get a pitching machine that throws whiffle balls.

Pitching Target: Baseball isn’t all hitting, pitchers need to stay sharp too! A pitching target will help keep your aim good, your arm strong, and your mechanics straight. Many targets also come with speedometers so you can track that fastball.

Defense: Don’t forget about keep your defense sharp as well. If you got that pitching machine, some of them can be positioned to shoot off grounders or fly balls. You can go a little more old school and just have a friend hit you a few balls. If you friend is busy, just get a rubber ball and throw it against a wall to keep your reflexes sharp!