Flyball 500 Youth Baseball Fielding Trainer – Practice Pop Flies, Grounders & Line Drives for Improved Fielding Skills

This is a great product. I'm horrible at hitting fly balls for my boys to field, so I would end up throwing my shoulder out trying to launch popups for an hour. I was initially looking at the fungo rackets because that seemed like the perfect solution, but many of the reviews for the $50 ones complained about them breaking. The $80 ones had a metal frame, but people said they were hard to control, and I honestly didn't want to spend $80. The flyball 500 was a less expensive alternative with good reviews. So, I gave it a shot and I'm glad I did. It comes with it's own "hardball" but it works great with any hardball or tee ball. I saw one review that said it didn't work well with other balls, but I had no issue whatsoever. I have a bucket of baseballs and I can send one after the other. It doesn't take long to master, and once you do, you can be pretty darn accurate with it. And you can seriously launch a ball with it. I haven't even tried to see how far I can send it, but it's easily over 300 feet. You can do easy pop ups or MLB height fly balls with ease. It's also great for grounders, line drives and short hops. What I like is that you can swing it like a bat once you get a little better with it, so it comes out more like an actual hit. The quality seems good. After about 200 balls over the past couple of days, it hasn't shown any signs of breaking or weakening. $38 for a piece of plastic may seem like a lot, but it's a great value for what it does, especially compared to the other options. And best of all, it saves my arm. If you're thinking about it, get it.

Was skeptical about this product first glance and initial handling. I assumed that the ball would not release from the pod, due to how rigid the plastic is. I must say my initial assumptions were WRONG! This items far exceed my expectations and does everything it says it does. Makes fielding practice more efficient vs hitting balls. Well worth the money!!

Don't believe the one-star reviews that say this doesn't work or doesn't let you throw it any farther than you can unaided. It absolutely does. I'm guessing those people gave up before they got the hang of using it. It takes a little while to "get it", but once you do, you've got it and it's really fun to use. I've been using a Chuck-It for my dog for a few years and so I had a head start with this thing, but really it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to learn if you understand how it works.The trick is that you don't make the release happen yourself--it releases the ball automatically when the centripetal force is greater than the little grabber can apply. At that point, the ball slips out and sails away. You just have to make a smooth swing, and the release happens on its own when you reach that critical speed. You vary the release point by reaching the release speed sooner (pop fly) or later (line drive) along the arc. I think the mistake people make is that they try to stop their swing at the point where they want to release the ball, but that just results in a ball that hits the ground three feet in front of you, or never releases at all.Once you get the feel, it's super effective. With a gentle flick of my arm I can send pop flies to my son that are much, much higher than the highest I can throw unaided. And the fact that it releases at a particular speed means that it's consistent, too. After the first bucket of balls I was able to throw it right at him, or make him run in any direction.Yeah, it's $35 for a piece of plastic, but it's been well worth it to me. I can't send consistent pop-flies with a bat, and I was tearing up my arm trying to throw them. This thing is simple and it works.

I'm a mid 40's dad and hitting baseballs to the outfield took a toll on my arm every time I did it for my kids team. I saw this thing and was really on the fence about buying it seeing some of the reviews. I figured I give it a chance and if it didn't work out I'd send it back. However, this thing is amazing. I can put the ball right where I want it every time. After about 10 mins of use I could easily do lazy pop-flies or hard line drives to the out field. I did try it for infield work, it's okay but I would probably continue to just use a bat for that.I did see reviews saying it didn't work when using a ball other than the one it came with. I had no issues using all different practice baseballs in my coaches bag. In fact I never even used the one it came with in case I wanted to send it back.The only reason I only gave it 4 stars was price for what it is. It is very cheap plastic and I hope it last for a while, but I do think the price could be dropped by about $15-$20. However, if it saves my arm and helps my kid in the outfield it's well worth buying. I still highly suggest.

The media could not be loaded. Wasn’t sure how well it would work, but after giving it a try, I love it! With little effort I am able to whip fly balls out to the field. Hardly any arm or shoulder strain. No more miss-hits that you get with using a bat. With just a little practice, you can toss fly balls, grounders, and liners - all with pretty good left/center/right accuracy as well. Highly recommend.

This is the best and easiest device I use to give my son an outfield defense workout. You can really fling fly balls, line drives and grounders with minimal effort — even while sitting down. Because of age and health issues, I can no longer hit fungoes, but I can use the Flyball 500 all day. Only shortcoming is I can’t do sky-high fly balls and pop-ups with it, but I can change depth, height and direction easily. It‘s a bit pricey for just a piece of plastic, but a lot cheaper than hiring a coach to hit fly balls to your kid.