Maybe the most common question we receive, “Will this turf work for my batting cage?” Batting Cage Turf is different from other kinds of turf in that it’s purpose is different. Lawn turf is designed to aesthetically resemble a nice, lush lawn, and athletic field turf is designed to maintain specific impact attenuation. The main purpose of batting cage turf is to deaden the ball as it comes off the bat and just be “green” instead of dirt, rocks or drab concrete slab. In reality, many kinds of turf can work as “batting cage turf.”
The other factor, setting batting cage turf apart from other turfs, is that it receives relatively little wear compared to other turf applications. In stand alone cages, as opposed to indoor facility cages, there’s little running, sprinting or pivoting which is what often accelerates wear on soccer fields, outdoor areas or even lawns. The primary area of wear is the batter’s box. More often that not, a cage has a batting mat to protect that area, which can be changed out over time. Other than that, the coach or parent is either sitting in a chair behind an L Screen or simply standing at the other end of the cage, throwing. Again, very light use.
Remember, turf comes up on the end of its life when the tips of the fibers begin to break off and wear down. On a 14 year old field, a 2.5 inch turf fiber can be worn down to half an inch or even down to the backing on the heaviest use fields. It would take A LONG time for this to happen in a batting cage.
The other variable in many turf applications is that the seams begin to split and come apart causing a tripping hazard. In a stand alone batting cage, this is not an issue as there are no seams. Larger cage areas may have seams, but again, if the area is used only as batting cages, it will take much longer than any warranty on a turf to occur.
On the other hand, many batting cage areas are also used for other purposes such as speed and agility, fielding or base running and as such, receive heavy, frequent use over time with multiple teams practicing every day. Many of our customers may use the turf for baseball teams on the weekends and evenings while conducting yoga or pilates instructions during the weekdays.
In these cases, customers often purchase a higher end turf with a 5mm pad on the back or a heavier ounce face weight turf with a thatch. These thicker turfs with more substance will last longer and provide more impact attenuation, be easier on the knees, and much more comfortable for floor exercises, and so forth.
So when you are deciding on which turf is ideal for your cage, keep this in mind before overspending on turf made to have a 12 year warranty as a soccer field, or high school football field. You may not need to spend that much for a backyard batting cage which you may only be using for several years.
