Fungo bat – $45.

A fungo bat is a specially designed bat used by baseball and softball coaches for practice. It is longer, thinner, and lighter than bats used by players. The bat is designed to hit balls tossed up in the air by the batter, not pitched balls. Coaches can hit many balls during fielding practice, and the weight and length allow the coach to hit balls repeatedly with high accuracy. The small diameter also allows coaches to easily hit pop-ups to catchers and infielders along with ground balls due to better control of the barrel of the bat.

Inexperienced coaches try to hit the pregame warmup one-armed with a kid’s 30″ bat that may cost up to $250. That’s just not a smart way to use an expensive (and short) bat. And those tennis racquet-like things make people think you’re playing the wrong sport.

Considering all the advantages, that’s why experienced coaches use a fungo!