For college coaches and players, getting an edge is everything. College pitching programs can have very different levels of resources, and what equipment you buy and how you use it can be the difference between a winning season and scrambling to avoid losses. Portable collegiate pitching mounds are one of the most underrated pieces of equipment in the game. They help with field maintenance, and they’re essential when it comes to building great practice habits.
So let’s review. Many coaches and players are relatively unaware of what these mounds can do for them, and this blog post breaks down the basics of portable collegiate pitching mounds including why they’re essential and the benefits they can provide.
Why You Need Portable Pitching Mounds for Collegiate Baseball?
The advantages of a portable pitching mound can be broken down into three basic areas:
- Time
- Money
- Competitive Edge
Let’s talk about time and money first. Building a pitching mound takes a lot of work, and not every program has a groundskeeper on staff, not to mention the support staff to help with the build.
The process of building a pitching mound is detailed, and many would say it’s tedious. The height has to be exactly right, and so does the slope. The quality of the dirt is important, too, and the rubber has to be positioned precisely to help pitchers build up good practice habits. These requirements are rigorous. Pitching mounds have to be rebuilt and inspected after every game, and some college fields are used to host several games a day.
Enter the portable pitching mound. They’re very affordable when you run the numbers and compare the cost to adding a grounds crew, and the time savings are impressive, too. It takes hours to rebuild a pitcher’s mound, and minutes to put a portable pitching mound in place, and that difference usually translates to extra practice time. It also makes life easier for coaches, who can build out their schedule knowing mound quality won’t be an issue when they schedule extra practice time.
Saving the Field: Practice Benefits of a Portable Pitching Mound
While the value of building good practice habits may be ridiculed by some professional athletes, it’s essential at the college level.
So what practice benefits can a quality portable pitching mound provide?
Start with the quality issue. Portable mounds with the wrong dimensions can result in injury, and the cheaper ones are often built with styrofoam or wood that can soften and develop dead spots. These mounds can actually help teach poor practice habits, which is one of the reasons why it’s important to spend the money and get a quality portable pitching mound.
The biggest practice benefit of portable pitching mounds is consistency. Pitchers forced to go from throwing on flat ground to an eight-inch mound due to practice field restrictions will struggle to replicate their basic mechanics, and those struggles will be reflected in their game performance.
With a quality college pitching mound, they get an edge instead. They can experiment with their delivery, work from different points on the rubber, and be protected from injury while they’re throwing, all of which can result in a significant improvement in performance.
A Brief History of Fields, Pitching Mounds and Promounds
While it might seem like a tangent to consider the history of pitching mounds, there’s some important information in the history that pertains to the use of portable collegiate pitching mounds.
Let’s start by considering the dimensions. Back in the day, mound height wasn’t regulated, which meant the groundskeeper could alter the mound height on game day to get a competitive advantage.
Not anymore. In contemporary baseball, MLB mandates a height of 10 inches, and the mound must be 60 feet and 6 inches from home plate. There are also precise slope requirements that many casual fans don’t know about. Rules stipulate that the mound slope must descend at a rate of one inch per foot over that initial six-foot distance.
Quality pitching mounds at the college level are built to these specific dimensions, but there’s more to quality than just building a mound by the numbers, so let’s pull back the curtain a little further and look at some of what’s involved when it comes to features and quality.
Features, Materials and Quality
One of the best features of portable collegiate pitching mounds is you can get game-specific mounds.
These pitching mounds are game-specific
These mounds are designed to be used in games, tournaments and scrimmages, and to meet the demands of constant use these mounds are typically built with high-durability turf that’s treated with a UV-resistant layer. They’re also light enough to be loaded into a car or truck by a couple of people once the game is over, which means no more building or checking the specific dimensions.
Can be used for indoor baseball practice
College baseball is a 12-month sport these days, and that means you need an indoor practice mound, too. While southern teams may have the luxury of outdoor practice during winter months, programs in other regions need to be able to hit the gym for practice during the offseason. To accommodate that need, indoor pitching mounds are built differently. The bottom of these mounds are designed to stick to a gym floor without moving, and they’re also built from materials that won’t scratch up a gym floor.
Have increased portability
Many indoor pitching mounds come with a two-piece design that increases portability and makes them easier to store. They can also be staggered to provide a larger front-foot landing area, which is important for developmental pitchers who are still working on their form. A quality portable pitching mound can actually help those pitchers develop more quickly. They’re working from the same mound every time, which means they can make quality pitches every time and hone their repertoire and their ability to locate in the process.
Get the Best Portable Collegiate Pitching Mound for Your Program
We’ve been designing high-quality portable pitching mounds for college programs for years, so we know all about the benefits. Our products include batting practice mounds, portable pitching mounds, and a full array of field equipment and products, and we also provide consulting services for field maintenance, starting an indoor hitting facility, or promoting your facility business.
Contact Us Today!
To up your game with us, call us at 800-835-9460, or email us at info@victorymounds.com. You can see our products at victorymounds.com, and we’ve got some great blogs to help you understand what they can do for you and your program.