Bataround News Article - Calaveras Ca

“The Bataround combines affordability, durability, portability and skill challenge into one tool,” states a description on the Bataround Web site. “It is like having a portable batting cage and pitching machine in the trunk of your car.”

Calavares, California - May 23, 2006

Calveras Enterprise Newspaper

By Jeremy D. Malamed

Rick Chambers doesn’t mind taking the time to talk about the Bataround – his new batting training invention designed to improve hitting skills for baseball and softball players – but he might not need to much longer.

The numbers are starting to speak for themselves.

Chambers’ son Ricky, a senior on the Calaveras High baseball team, has been using the Bataround regularly since last summer and improved his batting average by more than 100 points this season, going from being a .290 hitter as a junior, to a nearly .400 hitter as a senior. Ricky Chambers batted .395 this spring during the regular season and hit two home runs en route to being named an all-Mother Lode League first team outfielder.

Likewise, Steve Williamson, a teammate of Ricky Chambers on the Calaveras baseball team, and the son of Randy Williamson, a partner of Rick Chambers in the creation of the Bataround, saw a big jump in his batting average that can be attributed in part to the new training device.

Steve Williamson batted .228 for the Redskins as a junior, but was a first team all-MLL outfielder this season when he hit .413 during the regular season.

“(The Bataround) has helped me to see the ball a lot better and be more confident at the plate,” Ricky Chambers said. 

The Bataround is an efficiently designed portable, two-person device that can be used almost anywhere. It is essentially a ball – both baseball and softball attachments are available – attached to a shock cord and a stainless steel pole. One person rotates the ball and the other person hits it. It’s as simple as that, but unlike other training devices on the market – like the Hit-A-Way advertised on TV – the Bataround is capable of providing a more complex hitting workout.

“Ball rotation can easily be varied by the rotator to hit high, low, inside or outside pitches at will,” Rick Chambers said. “The rotator can also vary the speed of the ball.”

It retails for $189 and is virtually indestructible.

“We wanted to make a product that was affordable and durable enough to last baseball or softball players through their playing life,” Rick Chambers said. “It can be used by Little League players, high school players, or more advanced players. We’ve also heard some positive things from coaches who have used it with their teams.”

Frank Fleming Jr., head coach of the Sierra Ridge Academy baseball team, used the Bataround with his team this season and saw a dramatic improvement at the plate.

“The season before last, we batted in the .250 area as a team. With the addition of The Bataround, we went to a .400 team batting average. The numbers seem too good to believe, but the Bataround made the difference,” Fleming Jr. said.

Rick Chambers, an ex-ball player himself, had flirted with the idea of inventing a hitting training device for awhile, before working with his friend Randy Williamson – both live in Valley Springs – to try and put a functional device into motion. Chambers approached the University of the Pacific with his concept for a free feasibility study to be conducted by their Eberhardt School of Business for their Masters program.

“Even in its raw form as a prototype, “my invention was rated by far their favorite marketable product for the semester,” Chambers said.

Once Chambers hooked up with Larry Kost, a professional metals engineer from Galt, the Bataround really started to take on a professional form.

The product has been on the market for several months now and is available online at www.bataround.com.

While sales have started out slow, Chambers is confident that the invention will grow in popularity as word of mouth spreads. After all, there’s no better sales pitch for a batting training device than the promise of a rise in batting average.

In that regard, the numbers are doing a good job of speaking for themselves.

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