Dick's Sporting Goods Continues Investment In Youth Baseball

FINDLAY (KDKA) -- Youth baseball players in the Pittsburgh area that want to evaluate their swing now have a place to do that and it's inside Dick's Sporting Goods.

According to a story by our news partner, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dick's has installed batting cages at South Hills Village and Cranberry from the company HitTrax.

The stores now have chain-link cubes in the baseball department that include screens that allow the customer to test a bat before buying it. It also has screens that will analyze the swing metrics such as exit velocity, launch angle and strike zone analysis.

"When people are going online and buying a bat, you don't get the sensory experience," Eric Marshall, regional community marketing manager for Dick's told the Post-Gazette. "Now you can try on a glove or test out a bat and see how it fits." Bats can come in a range of materials (bamboo, maple, metal alloy), barrel diameter and price tags."

The South Hills Village location will have the batting cages located next to the baseball glove display, accompanied by a steaming machine to break in a brand new glove.

This is nothing new for the sporting goods retailer as they have a history of a "try-before-you-buy" features including putting greens, running tracks and other stations where consumers can "test-drive" a product before they purchase.

According to Marshall's interview with the Post-Gazette, Dick's will see how these batting cages do at the South Hills Village and Cranberry locations before exploring expansion to other Pittsburgh area locations.