OMAHA, Neb. , June 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bat Aroundâ„¢, the new app and software that is gamifying hitting a baseball for teams, players and novices, announced today it will be available to fans and enthusiasts attending the College World Series (CWS) in Omaha, Nebraska. As part of the Omaha Baseball Village (OBV) from June 15-26, visitors and fans can test their skills and experience the gamification of swinging a bat. The Bat Around experience at the OBV will be open daily throughout the CWS and is free to experience on a first-come, first-served basis.
Part baseball and part video game, Bat Around is inspired by some of the greatest hitters in Major League Baseball (MLB) history, including David Eckstein, Fred McGriff, Matt Holliday, Luis Gonzalez and more. Bat Around is a game for all ability levels played at batting cages, is powered by HitTrax and is currently available at locations in California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, New York and Pennsylvania.
"Bat Around combines old school hitting principles with new school technology to give people of all ages and ability levels the opportunity to swing a bat," said Clint Hurdle, Bat Around co-founder, former MLB player and former manager of the Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates with 1,269 career wins (38th all-time) as an MLB manager. "The Bat Around experience in Omaha will show people how fun and accessible hitting can be. Everybody hits!"
The full Bat Around game includes six rounds of play, each testing a different skill, such as hitting line drives, going to the opposite field, situational hitting, or performing in the clutch. A mini version of the game will be available for free in the OBV and will feature three rounds of play. Bat Around is accessible for all skill levels, and players can hit a live ball off a tee, soft toss, front toss, pitching machine, or with live pitching.
Players see their results in real time on a 16-foot by 10-foot video screen to feel like they are in the stadium, along with LED lights, video monitors and music to amplify the experience. Players can access their stats and can get a Bat Around Metric (BAM) score in the app, which measures overall skill and tracks performances. Players can also create a digital player card to share and can access pro-tips through videos from the Hitting Legends Council, whose members have more than 25,000 collective professional hits.
The Bat Around experience will be open to the public June 15-18 from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. and June 19-26 from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Former MLB players and members of Bat Around's Hitting Legends Council will be on site at various times throughout the event.
To use Bat Around, players must download and create an account in the free app, which is available through the App Store and Google Play for iOS and Android phones.
"Our Bat Around prototype in Omaha is reimagining the hitting experience for ballpark concourses, fan experience areas, entertainment venues and batting cages," said Matt Farrell, CEO of Batting Challenge Holdings, the creator of Bat Around. "It just 'hits different' to make the game more fun."
Bat Around is gaining strong momentum through major industry partnerships. USA Baseball recently announced a multi-year partnership with Bat Around to become a Developmental Partner of the organization and the presenting sponsor of the USA Baseball Regional Clinics.