SKLZ Impact Limited-Flight Practice Balls

When coaching small children, the last thing a coach wants to do is give a kid any reason to be afraid of the ball. This year, after the league where I coach banned any type of hitting implement on the sidelines or in the field, I wondered how I would get my hitters warmed up for a game.

I purchased a three dozen of these right before I went on a trip with my son to a wood bat tournament for 16 year olds. It was obvious from the moment I took them out of the package that this was a different kind of practice ball. They feel different in your hand, they respond absolutely truthfully when coming off the bat, and there is ZERO danger of harming another human being or anything in the immediate area like a window, aluminum siding, or precious yard plants or pets.

I have lots of experience throwing standard wiffle balls, so there was no adjustment to be made in throwing a straight ahead fastball, a cut fastball, a wicked curveball, or a rising fastball.

In that respect, these are great for work with more experienced players when you don’t have access to a bat cage or a batting screen to prevent injury to the pitcher. The batter has instant feedback on whether he hit the ball solidly, because the slightest miss will result in a pop up or a chop into the dirt. Hitting this ball square results in a line drive that will travel up to 75 or 80 feet when struck by a strong older player.

When working with my 9 and 10 year old boys, these are wonderful because you can hit them off at T into a net, you can soft toss them from the side, or you can pitch straight ahead in order to work on batting form without worrying about hurting the child or hurting one of your fielders (or an unlucky coach).

Another big advantage is the specialized material, which remains flexible even in weather that would cause an ordinary plastic ball to shatter into a million pieces. My three dozen balls have probably been hit 100 times each this summer, and all of them look like the day I took them out of the package. No rips, no tears, they instantly spring back into shape and beg for more abuse. And when they get filthy, I drop them into the washing machine for a quick rinse and they come out in beautiful shape.

For get expensive foam balls that you have to chase a long distance, forget plastic balls that chip or shatter in cold weather, forget tossing safety balls that can still break a window. Buy yourself a couple dozen of these, and watch how quickly young players develop a good sense of contact in their hitting zone, and how much older players appreciate having the ability to practice hitting in a small space at a field, a tournament, or even in your own garage into a net.

I stumbled upon these balls on Amazon when looking for regular plastic Whiffle balls to play with my kids. I was running through dozens of traditional plastic balls over several months as they would crack in a short period of time, especially if any adults started taking turns hitting the ball. I read about these SKLS Impact Baseballs, initially balked (pun intended) at the price, but decided to give it a shot once I read about the composition of the balls allowing them to “squish”, the one-year warranty, and some other helpful reviews. After literally thousands of swings now by dozens of children and adults using both plastic and metal bats, I am thrilled to report that the balls look and behave as if they were brand new! — In summary, these balls are the best practice balls I’ve ever owned, and the fact that you can use them with both plastic and metal bats means I can use them for back-yard fun with the whole family or for on-the-field one-on-one batting practice with my older sons who can swing away without someone needing to chase balls down 300 feet away.

Here are a few things to consider as you think about buying these balls:

– Most importantly, they do what they claim to do. I have purchased two dozen balls now, and each of them is in perfect condition. (We lost one ball down a storm drain, but I suspect that it’s still in perfect shape wherever it wound up!)
– The balls are shaped the same as traditional Whiffle balls, and they will generally behave the same in terms of movement.
– These balls include four small triangle-shaped holes in addition to the oval-shaped holes. I’ve found that putting my two throwing fingers in two of the triangles allows me to throw a straight “four-seam” fastball with no side-to-side movement. I love this feature because it allows me to throw these balls with more velocity than most other whiffle balls without inducing side-to-side movement that I don’t want. If you’re looking to throw straight batting practice (or trying to throw someone out when playing a game of Whiffle ball), the triangles are very helpful for throwing straight and hard.
– The yellow and black ball design is excellent for visual stimulation and “tracking” the ball. The ball designers were also smart to alternate the yellow and black sides (some balls have holes on the yellow side, other balls have holes on the black) to prevent batters from being able to tell what kind of pitch is coming based on he color. That said, the batter can somewhat track whether he’s seeing a straight (four-seam) fastball versus a cutting pitch depending on how the colors rotate coming out of the pitchers hand. This is a subtle design choice that roughly mimics being able to pick up the seams on a baseball and is something that hitters can’t do with an all-white or all-yellow plastic ball. Nice design touch that helps encourage batters to really keep an eye on the ball!
– The balls appear – in my estimation – to fly just as far or slightly farther than a normal Whiffle ball. The description talks about not flying as far so you can gather them more easily, which is true when compared to baseballs (which obviously fly much farther off a metal bat). Because these balls feel slightly heavier and more dense than a normal Whiffle ball (when coupled with the collapsing technology), they fly as far or – perhaps – slightly farther than other plastic baseballs I’ve used.
– The initial cost of the balls is significant, though I feel it’s a fantastic value when you consider that you’re getting a dozen balls that will last you easily ten times as long as other Whiffle-ball-type practice baseballs.
– As with any hollow plastic practice ball, these are not well-suited for pitching practice. The balls are light and hollow, so you don’t want to over-exert yourself by throwing hard. These should – in my opinion – only be used for recreational Whiffle ball games (perfect use) or for batting practice.

In short, this has been one of my favorite “discoveries” on Amazon this year. I had never heard of or seen these balls before, and I stumbled onto them on Amazon and decided to take a gamble on them. I couldn’t be happier with the product and would definitely buy a third dozen if the first two dozen weren’t all still going strong. If you’re looking for a long-lasting practice baseball for batting practice, you’ll be happy you tried these.

Las compre para jugar beisbol con mis amigos en el parque, la verdad se lanzan muy bien y son super resistentes para la hora del bateo. Vuelan muy bien cuando les das un buen hit. Las recomiendo para jugar con su familia beisbol en la playa, el parque o la calle sin temor a romper algo de un pelotazo.

Actualización: Al mes de mayo de 2023, las pelotas siguen en excelente estado, se usan en promedio una vez al mes. Súper compra

These are the best for backyard batting practice.