When most people think about Little League equipment, they tend to think about the obvious gear—balls, bats, gloves, uniforms, etc.
Teaching Little Leaguers how to use this equipment properly can feel like a full-time job, but the main goal is to help them have fun and teach teamwork and sportsmanship while doing it.
There are plenty of tools to help do this—indoor pitching mounds, portable game mounds, practice mounds, outdoor pitching mounds—but a portable Little League pitching mound is surprisingly effective. Many people don’t even know that they exist, though, so let’s take a closer look at what they are, how they’re made and how they can help you with your team.
Portable Pitching Mounds and Youth League Players
Given that tee ball and Little League are the two lowest leagues when it comes to skill, using a portable pitching mound at the Little League level seems like overkill.
Anyone who’s ever played Little League or sat through a game knows that basic skills can be a huge challenge for most of the players on the field, which is why expressions like “Little League home run” have evolved to describe players who end up circling the bases after a series of comedic miscues.
But Little League pitching mounds can help short-circuit many of these mistakes before they happen. Those 40-foot curveball attempts from a 12-year old will never disappear completely, but a proper pitching mound can help you teach pitching skills so you see far less of them.
Pitching Mounds and Safety on the Field
That proper form has other positive ramifications, too, so let’s look at a few of those. Pitching mounds can improve performance and safety on the field, and they help ensure that your equipment is built to Little League standards.
Proper Mound Height And Distance, From the Top Down
Quality Little League pitching mounds are six inches high for players under eleven, and they go up to eight inches for older players. Having the right mound height means pitchers can be more consistent in their delivery, which accelerates their improvement.
Protect the Players
Portable pitching mounds simplify the catcher’s job, and they also protect hitters and umpires. They make it easier for catchers to handle those wayward curveballs, and hitters and umpires don’t have to duck and cover as much because they have no idea where the ball’s going to go.
Improving Skills With a Portable Pitching Mound
Pitchers can throw more strikes, hitters have more productive at-bats, and fielders aren’t standing around listlessly, wondering when practice is going to be over.
Getting a pitching mound for Little Leaguers is a win-win that will make you a better coach, and it may even improve play on the field and help with your win/loss record.
Convenience on the Baseball Field
Running a Little League practice is harder than it looks. Kids come into it with all kinds of different talent levels, and varying levels of interest in the game, too.
Keeping them all engaged and interested is a major challenge, especially if you’re moving from one makeshift field to another. But a portable pitching mound is a game changer that makes those kinds of shifts a breeze.
Pitching Mounds Help With Proper Distance Measurement
Pitching mounds can help you can legitimize those makeshift fields into legitimate ones. They have the right height and landing area, and you can change the angle and orientation for fields with an odd shape.
Simple Set Up for Youth League Baseball
Even better, these mounds are easy to set up. They’re reasonably light, so if you have an assistant coach or you recruit a parent to help you out, you can be ready to go in a few minutes.
No more digging around the pitching rubber to make sure it’s usable, or checking the slope to see if your pitchers can use it. All the set up is done for you with portable pitching mounds.
The Benefits of a Top Quality Pitching Mound
In addition to ensuring the proper pitching dimensions, the best portable Little League pitching mounds are tough and durable.
o Materials. The best ones are made of reinforced fiberglass and coated with Astroturf, and they’re built to withstand the pounding they’ll take from a team of enthusiastic Little Leaguers.
o Durability and versatility. That durability is another major benefit. Little League pitching mounds can be passed on and used again and again, and different teams can even borrow from one another to facilitate skills development across different leagues, teams and divisions.
o Authentic slope and pitching rubber. Top quality portable pitching mounds have pitching rubbers that are built to last, and slope-wise they’re built to the exact specifications that are part of Little League play.
o Versatility during practice. Your pitchers will even be able to practice their pickoff moves, although we offer no guarantees about where the ball will actually go while they’re learning this part of their craft.
Portable Pitching Mounds and the Cost Factor
While many coaches and parents balk at the seemingly high cost of portable pitching mounds, they’re actually one of the best equipment investments you can make.
o Time savings. They can save you from having to do hours of work on dodgy fields, and you won’t have to repair the damage after practice is over.
o Safety savings. No coach or parent wants to see a child get hurt from using inferior equipment, and bad fields can do a lot of damage when it comes to the injuries they can cause.
Pitching mounds stop that from happening, which means Little Leaguers can stay on the field longer and have more fun as they do.
Finding the Right Little League Pitching Mound
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of getting a Little League pitching mound, let’s answer a different question—how to you find the right one?
The process starts with some shopping, and a little homework as well. We’ve already provided some clues about what to look for when it comes to quality, so take some time to compare prices and features, make a list, and take the most important step of all.
Call us. We’ve been making quality baseball equipment for years, and we have a lot of expertise. We’ll answer your questions, as a few of our own about your program and needs, then recommend a product.
You’ll be happy with what you get, so go to VictoryMounds.com to learn more about our products, then call us at 800 835 9460. If you’d prefer to email, you can contact is at info@victorymounds.com