Found out today that my son's league will be using pitching mounds for their games this year. While there may be some portable ones at the fields where the games will be played, we're concerned that some of the practice fields may not. I checked some out on the web, and got a little sticker shock at what some pre-made ones go for.

 

Anybody ever build their own? Been looking on the internet for plans, and the only thing that concerns me about some of them is the weight issue. This will have to be totally portable (in and out of pickup bed), so I'd rather not end up with something that weighs a couple hundred pounds. I'm thinking if it's more modular in nature, then distributing the weight amongst two or three pieces would make it more manageable.

 

The other issue would be what to skin it with. If we were just using it indoors, then I'd leave it bare wood and let the kids pitch in their tennis shoes. But, we'll be outside all the time, and I'd rather not have to worry about somebody forgetting to change out of their cleats before getting on it, and then slipping. I know Lowe's and Home Depot sell that indoor/outdoor carpeting. Do you think that would provide enough grip for the cleats? And do you think it's tough enough to hold up to the cleats for a summer? (Just using rubber cleats.)

 

Any thoughts?

I've pitched on a couple for practice and such but to use in a game is a stretch. Pick offs are pretty much impossible to perform with those things.

I've pitched on a couple for practice and such but to use in a game is a stretch. Pick offs are pretty much impossible to perform with those things.

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of using them for 11 or 12 year olds either...especially a 10 inch mound. But, if we're going to be using them in the game, I feel we owe it to the kids who'll be pitching to be familiar with it (especially if they've never done it before).

I was in your shoes once saying and thinking the same things about portable mounds. However, pitching off of portable mounds are really not that big of a deal, at least IMO. My son's teams have pitched off them for years at various tournaments and various locations. Of course the thought of it sounds "bad" but at some tournaments we've been at with real mounds I would have preferred to have had a portable mound. During some of these travel team tournaments, when teams are playing games one after another from 10am until 9pm, the pitching mound gets worse and worse after each game with big holes at the rubber and at the pitchers landing area. At least with portable mounds you don't have these issues and the kids don't have to worry about whether or not they will be stepping in a hole or not when pitching.

 

The portables can easily be home made by someone who has basic carpentry skills although I don't have any plans or drawings I could share on how to build them. The ones we used when my son was between 9-12 years old were stout, not extremely heavy (2 adults could carry from dugout to mound). If your concerned with pick off's or kids falling off of a steep sided mound, build it a little wider with a longer, gradual slope to the floor / ground. The real key when placing one on the field is making it stable so it doesn't rock when a kid is pitching, build it with that gradual slope and you can rake dirt or brick dust around the base and can be tamped in and around to help keep it stable and in position.

 

If your field has a lot of brick dust on it, sweeping it off with a broom or blowing it off with a leaf blower before each game is a good idea as well. Also, I've seen most tournaments allow pitchers to wear cleats on portable mounds and although you may see a kid slip every now and then, it really isn't a factor at all. I've also seen some tournaments make pitchers wear tennis shoes while pitching so be prepared for that as well.

 

Just a few suggestions based on what I've seen:

1. build it one piece - you don't want 2-3 pieces just to make it modular, you want it to be sturdy and 1 pcs is the best bet to achieve that

2. cover it with an indoor / outdoor carpet, don't leave just ply wood showing. We changed carpeting on our portable once a year, although it never really needed it any of the times we changed it, we just didn't want to have to change it in the middle of a year.

3. Don't sweat the thought of the portable mounds, I don't think it affects kids one way or another, unless mommy or daddy are talking about it before the game... I actually think you may find that they provide a more stable pitching surface and a consistent mound from game to game that can help younger players. I'm sure you've seen fields with many different mound styles, different heights, some with and some without holes, some with dirt, some with brick dust, etc. etc. etc. Travel baseball isn't the MLB so every mound is different from field to field. These mounds can eliminate that constant changing from game to game.

 

I hope some of my opinion on the situation helps....

Statstuffer ..thanks for your input! I've been searching on the internet since my initial post, and have come across varying degrees of "mounds". Some are extremely small, and basically force the pitcher to land in dirt. However, the 10" height of our mound makes that less doable without having an extremely sharp angle of decline. So, I'm looking at something with a landing area as well. I think I've got the capability to go ahead and build one, and will probably go that route. Trying to lay out my cut list right now, and see how I can maximize the lumber. But, at first glance, I think I can build the structure of it for less than $100. The only thing that I'd have left would be the carpeting.