How to Build a Batting Cage at Home

Building your own batting cage at home can provide hours of valuable practice time. By hitting balls inside the protective netting, you avoid having to stop and chase down balls. Making your own cage from inexpensive materials is a fun, easy project. You can construct a basic batting cage indoors inside a garage or pole barn, or outdoors where more space is usually available.

A batting cage. (Image: KaraGrubis/iStock/Getty Images)

Step 1

Determine the best area to construct your batting cage. You need a space at least 15 feet wide and 40 feet long. You need a longer area if you want to practice hitting pitches from farther away. Make sure the area is level and free of obstructions.

Step 2

Set up the wood posts to make the skeleton of the cage. Posts measuring 4 inches by 4 inches are the sturdiest. The cage should have a post about every 12 to 14 feet along each side. If you are building a 40-foot-long cage, you need three posts on each side. The posts should stand 10 to 12 feet aboveground. Therefore, posts for outdoor cages need to be 13 to 15 feet tall so you can secure 2 to 3 feet of the post with concrete in the ground. You need to attach posts for an indoor cage with post bases using anchor hooks to secure the base to the floor surface.

Step 3

Screw in eye bolts about every 3 feet along each post.

Step 4

Drape the netting over the top of the posts and extend it down evenly. Leave about 1 foot of excess netting resting on the ground.

Step 5

Clip the netting to the eye bolts. Do not stretch the net too tightly. You need to leave some slack in the net so the netting slows down and stops the ball rather than rebounds it back.

Step 6

Secure the bottom of the netting to the ground, or to a board connected to the posts at the bottom, to prevent balls from rolling under the netting. Remember to keep some slack in the netting.

Things You'll Need

Heavy-duty nylon or polyethylene netting
6 treated wood posts, 12 to 15 feet tall
Post bases (optional)
Anchor hooks (optional)
Eye bolts
Clips

Warning

Do not pitch to a hitter inside a batting cage unless you have set up a pitcher's screen. Otherwise, use a pitching machine to practice hitting inside your cage.