Pitching Mats?

[Jaroext]

My DD(9) is just over a year into pitching. She is great athlete, who is thriving to be among the best. She asked me if I could get here a pitching mat like we have studied in videos. I would like to know the best place to buy one (with the power line) and if there are any recommendations on the size. Obviously, I would like one that's good quality and will be useful for many seasons going forward.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Ade's Dad]

I bought a pro mound in 07 with a non skid backing. Within a month we glue it to the concrete floor. We have had 2 girls pitching regular on it since it was new. It is still in very good shape.

 

[Big Daddy]

I went to a local rubber distributor, and bought an 9'X3' piece of industrial conveyor belt. It is 3/8" thick with some kind reinforcement thread in it. Went to Dick's and got a pitching rubber, contact cemented that to the pad. Masked it off and put a white stripe down the center. Viola!

It has been on our back porch in the same spot for 4 years now, and looks and works as good as ever. We are in KY, so it goes from 100 and blazing sun in the summer to -10 with ice and snow in the winter. Held up like a champ.
I had to repaint the line once, and reglue the pitching rubber down at the beginning of spring each year.

I have just under a $100 invested in it.

 

[Rhino69]

Most of the pitching matts are a couple hundred dollars. I believe in making as much of these things a possible. Look for a piece of conveyor belt, or go to home depot or lowes and look in the carpet section for some runners or such. I have both. The conveyor belt holds up forever, but is a little rougher on shoes. If you have conveyor, get some tuff toe pro, it is a 2 part epoxy. you can pitch on asphalt with that stuff and never wear out the shoe.

 

[shockcoach]

I went to one of the big box stores and bought a strip of outdoor carpet runner, attached a pitching rubber and painted a white power-line on it. I think I have less than $30 invested in it. If you get creative you don't need to pay the $150+ for one.

 

[Ken Krause]

One of the facilities where I teach has a conveyor belt type. I never liked it. Not much cushion when you land and, quite honestly, it didn't look very professional. It looked like a conveyor belt that someone had screwed a pitching rubber into. Guess that's ok if you're throwing in the garage or the basement, but for my purposes teaching lessons I just didn't think it made a very good impression.

Since there are turf floors in the cages at both facilities where I teach I bought the Jennie Finch mat with the foam backing. It's nice because in addition to have the pitching rubber and center line already on it, it's thick so it takes some of the impact of landing on a concrete floor out of it. If one of my students forgets her gym shoes but has her cleats, she can use those to throw with no problem. Had one do it the other night.

The mat I used before that with a turf surface didn't have a power line. I painted one on myself using marking paint. After a few months of being rolled and unrolled, plus multiple pitchers using it, the line pretty much wore off. So that's something to think about too.

I will say in my opinion that buying a mat shows a certain level of commitment. It's an investment. On the other hand, if you're not sure your little pitcher will continue you can definitely save yourself some money by making one.