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Tools · Cage Targets

The Hit Window

In a cage, every ball hits a net. Nobody can tell a line drive to the gap from a routine fly ball. This tool works backward from your field to show which launch angles land in open grass. Then it tells you where to hang a target so the cage shows it.

Step 01 · Your hitters
Pick a level. Then set how hard they hit it.
58mph
Exit velocity is the speed of the ball off the bat. A measured number beats a guess. The presets are rough ranges from coaching sites, not studies.
Field setup (our starting guesses, change them to match your field)
Step 02 · The window
Model estimate · not measured data
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Every launch angle, sorted by what happens
    Side view of your field (height stretched to fit)
    Step 03 · Cage or field
    Measure three things. Hang the targets.
    Tee to back net is measured straight down the cage, with the tee centered between the side nets.
    View from the tee. Gold is the hit window. Green is the low liner band.
    AimWhere it goesHow high
    Step 04 · See it
    Point your phone. Find the spot.
    1. Stand at the tee. Hold the phone where the ball sits.
    2. Aim straight down the cage. Tap Set middle.
    3. All five spots appear on screen. Follow the arrows to each one, hang the target on the cage net where the ring sits, tap Hung.
    Phone only. Stay on one spot while you lock. Pins hold while you turn and drift if you walk. Nothing is recorded and nothing leaves your phone.
      Step 05 · Place targets and call hits
      Line up once. Targets stick to the cage.
      1. Stand anywhere you can see the back net and the tee. Tap six spots: the four back-net corners, the ball on the tee, and the floor under the tee.
      2. The five hit-window targets appear on the cage. Tap the net to add more. Tap a target to remove it.
      3. Moved? Tap Line up again from the new spot. Every target stays put.
      4. Switch to Call hits. After each swing, tap where the ball hit the net.
      Cage only. Turn the phone freely after you line up. Walk to a new spot and you line up again. You tap where the ball hit; the phone does not track it by itself. Calls assume fielders in standard spots. Nothing is recorded or saved.
        Now play
        Targets are up. Keep score.

        Ten balls. Call your shot. Middle 30, gaps 20, lines 10. Challenge a teammate or run head-to-head. Free with an email.

        Open the game
        Sources and assumptions
        • MLB Statcast glossary, Launch Angle. Ground ball below 10 degrees, line drive 10 to 25, fly ball 25 to 50, pop up above 50. Measured on major league hitters. Used here as a cross-check, not as the youth answer.
        • Kagan, D., and Nathan, A. M. (2014). Simplified models for the drag coefficient of a pitched baseball. The Physics Teacher. Drag coefficient of roughly 0.31 to 0.35 from pitch tracking. We use 0.35 for every ball and speed. That is a simplification.
        • Nathan, A. M. Trajectory Calculator, University of Illinois. The full model includes lift from backspin. Ours leaves spin out, so real fly balls carry farther than shown, most of all on hard-hit balls.
        • FanGraphs Community, Evaluating Statcast Hit-Type Boundaries. In MLB data, balls at 20 to 25 degrees act like fly balls unless they are hit softly. Blog analysis, not peer reviewed.
        • Exit velocity presets. Rough ranges published by coaching and training sites. We found no peer-reviewed youth dataset. Blast Motion states that no trustworthy softball chart by age exists. Flagged uncertain. Measure your own hitters.
        • CDC 2000 growth charts, stature for age. Median height by age, boys and girls, read at the half-year. Baseball levels use the boys chart and softball levels use the girls chart. It is an average. Your hitter may be well above or below it.
        • MLB automated ball-strike zone. Bottom of the zone at 27 percent of batter height and top at 53.5 percent, so the middle sits at about 40 percent. This is the major league definition. Youth rulebooks describe the zone by body landmarks, such as armpits to the top of the knees, and that zone is taller. Youth fit is uncertain, so the contact height can be typed in by hand.
        • Catcher's view. Six taps place the camera against the cage size you entered. A tap on the screen becomes a point on the net, then a launch angle and direction from the tee. Accuracy depends on your taps, your cage numbers, and a phone that stays still. The call uses DugoutLab assumptions: infielders near 14 and 33 degrees off center on each side, each covering about 7 degrees. Not measured.
        • Phone sight. Reads the tilt sensor in your phone. Sensor accuracy varies by phone. Check one spot against the table and a tape measure before you trust it. Locked pins are drawn with an assumed camera angle, so they are exact at the center of the screen and approximate near the edges. On a field the phone gives the direction only. Tilt is too rough to judge distance past the infield, so distance is paced off.
        • Line drive cap. Whatever the field model says, the targets only mark 10 to 22 degree launch angles. For small fields and low exit velocities the model can favor fly balls, since it assumes every fielder makes every reachable play. Youth fielders do not, and a target that teaches lift is the wrong lesson. DugoutLab decision, not a measured result.
        • Fielder depth, speed, reach, and reaction time. DugoutLab assumptions. Not measured. Open the field setup and change them.
        AIM DOWN THE CAGE
        Then tap Set middle