Top 9 Best Portable Baseball Protective Screens + Buyer's Guide
Practicing on the baseball diamond is inherently dangerous. Pitchers need protection from batters, baserunners need protection from pitchers, and players running drills in the outfield need protection from pop-flys. Baseballs are flying every which-way, the sun has the potential to be blinding and there are plenty of players and coaches on the field, running the basepaths and elsewhere.
The solution is the use of portable protective screens. However, a single screen protecting the pitcher from baseballs sent back to the mound will not suffice. Baseball diamonds require several different types of screens to keep everyone as safe as possible. Let’s take a look at the top protective screens for baseball and the top considerations to think about before making a purchase.
| Image | Pitching Machine | Type | Popularity | Price |
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Bullet Series L-Screen | L Screen |
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Cimarron Residential L Screen | L Screen |
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Bullet L-Screen Jr. | L Screen |
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Trigon Sports ProCage Black | L Screen |
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Bownet Pro Net L-Screen | L Screen |
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ATEC Portable L Screen | L Screen |
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Jugs Protector Blue Series Sock Screen | Sock Screen |
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Easton Pro Style Baseball Pitching L Screen | L Screen |
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Bullet 8x4 Fast Step with Overhead | I-Screen |
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1. Bullet Series L-Screen
Buy from Anytime Baseball Supply
Every baseball player and team needs protective screens for batting practice. The Bullet Series L-screen is more than adequate for batting practice that takes place both on and off the field of play. Put your faith in this protective screen and you will serve up practice pitches to home plate in full confidence.
Portable Screen Features include:
- 1 ½ memory foam reduces deflection
- Optional 18-ounce heavy weight vinyl
- Heavy duty 1 5/8-inch diameter
- 15 gauge welded galvanized steel frame prevents rust
- 10” pneumatic wheel along with a steel plate for superior durability
- 3mm nylon netting that is pillowcase style
Designed with an L-shape, this protective screen has additional protection for the hips. The extra protection helps to safeguard both coaches and players on the mound as they pitch baseballs to batters.
2. Cimarron Residential L Screen
Buy from Anytime Baseball Supply
Revered as one of the top L protective baseball screens on the market, the Cimarron Residential is worth every penny and then some. Add this protective screen to your practice diamond and you will find you have that much more confidence when pitching batting practice to the hitters on your team.
L-Screen Features include:
- Easy assembly
- Pillowcase netting
- Knotted and twisted #42 twine
- Frame consisting of 1 ½” powder coated steel that is 16 gauge
If portability is a concern, you will love the fact that the Cimarron Residential L Screen can be purchased with optional frame wheels.
3. Bullet L-Screen Jr.
Buy from Anytime Baseball Supply
If you are in the market for a flexible and versatile batting practice screen for your baseball team, look no further than the Bullet L-Screen Jr. The screen has a 5-foot width ensuring it can be moved through tight spaces with ease. This width also makes the protective screen that much easier to use on the field. Give the Bullet L-Screen Jr. a try and you will agree its narrow design makes sets the stage for batted baseballs to move past the protective screen, reaching your middle infielders instead of bouncing off the screen.
Baseball Screen Features include:
- Dimensions of 7-feet in height and 5-feet in width
- Optional 18-ounce heavy weight vinyl
- 1 ½ memory foam reduces potential deflections
- 3 mm #60 nylon netting that is weather-treated and pillowcase style
A large part of the appeal of the Bullet L-Screen Jr. is its durability. As an example, this protective screen has a 10” pneumatic wheel complete with steel plating that provides additional protection against the elements, baseballs and just about everything else. This protective screen will likely last decades or even outlast your baseball coaching/playing career.
4. Trigon Sports ProCage Black
Ideal for baseball players at the little league level, middle school, high school, college and even pros, the Trigon Sports ProCage is built to perfection.
Features include:
- Dimensions of 43” by 14.5” by 6.25”
- 35-pound weight
- 18 gauge powder coated steel frame
- Push-button assembly facilitates setting up and taking down the screen
- Quick and easy portability
The Trigon Sports ProCage is solidly built, proving effective for use at all levels of play. The screen even has double pillowcase style netting screens that are waterproof ensuring rain and humidity do not weaken the screen. The netting fits across the screen frame with ease.
5. Bownet Pro Net L-Screen
Buy from Anytime Baseball Supply
This Bownet protective screen is suitable for both baseball and softball. Featuring a height slightly above 8-feet, the Bownet Pro Net L-screen provides ample protection. You need a mere two minutes to set up this protective screen at the baseball diamond or other practice space.
Features include:
- Heavy professional grade netting
- Steel base built for superior durability
- Uber-thick fiberglass poles for additional stability and protection
- Rapid assembly thanks to its lightweight construction
- Easily configurable for left-handed and right-handed pitchers
In short, the Bownet Pro Net L-screen provides the perfect blend of quality and durability. Add in the fact that this protective screen weighs a mere 20 pounds, facilitating its transportation to and from the baseball diamond and there is even more reason to buy it.
6. ATEC Portable L Screen
The ATEC Portable L Screen makes it easy to take baseball practice on the road. Complete with powder-coated steel tubes and UV inhibitors, this protective screen has a little bit of everything you could hope for in a protective barrier.
Features include:
- Fairly light weight of 32 pounds
- Tubing pieces snap together with ease for rapid assembly
- All-weather, double-faced HDPE net treated to endure the sun’s ultraviolet rays
- Fits within the trunks of most automobiles
- Enhanced protection provided through diagonal vertical tubing
- Knotted and twisted square mesh netting
- Steel tubing with heavy walls
- Dimensions of 45 inches by 15 inches by 14 inches
If you plan on taking your protective screen to local baseball diamonds, grassy areas and other green spaces, you will love the ATEC Portable L Screen. This screen features an internal transport wheel along with a heavy-duty style carrying bag that makes transporting the screen that much easier.
7. Jugs Protector Blue Series Sock Screen
Buy from Anytime Baseball Supply
When it comes to sock screens, few compare to the Jugs Protector Blue Series. Though the engineers responsible for this protective screen stressed function over form, it must be noted the screen’s blue exterior framing is quite visually appealing.
Features include:
- 1020 steel frame tubes that is cold-rolled and 1.2 mm in thickness
- Half-inch thick pearl foam padding that is 1.5 inches in diameter
- Pearl-foam padding
- Double-thick 60 ply black Dacron poly-E net
- Dimensions of 7’ height, 7’ weight and a 3’ sock net
- Netting and frame come with a one-year guarantee
Aside from providing protection against wayward baseballs, a large part of the appeal of this protective screen is its easy assembly. Even if you are not mechanically inclined, you will find the net can be assembled in mere minutes without using a bunch of tools, lacing, welding, etc. Each of the joints is firmly bolted in place for added strength and also to improve the net’s longevity.
8. Easton Pro Style Baseball Pitching L Screen
This heavy-duty protective screen is used in both batting cages and on the field. The full steel frame combined with the knotted doubled sided netting ensures the screen holds strong against inclement weather as well as baseballs.
L Screen Features Include:
- Three reliable panels with two-sided netting comprises the screen
- 7’ by 7’ dimensions
- Configurable opening accommodates both left-handed and right-handed pitchers
- Collapsible screen is designed to break down in a couple seconds, shrinking to 41” by 42” by 4”
- 90-day warranty
- Can be used for both baseball and softball practice
- Steel frame provides optimal protection even against hard line drives
- Easily adjustable
Give this collapsible L-frame a try at your local baseball diamond or other green space and you will find it provides more than enough protection against liners that come back to the mound. In fact, the screen is even compatible with pitching machines that are portable.
9. Bullet 8x4 Fast Step with Overhead
Buy from Anytime Baseball Supply
Designed with a 14 gauge steel galvanized frame and durable #60 gauge netting, this bad boy is built to take a beating and hold steady in the years and decades ahead. Players and coaches alike rave about the frame’s protection with heavy duty 18 ounce vinyl along with 1.5” foam padding.
Features include:
- Galvanized and welded uber-durable steel frame
- 5-year frame warranty
- Impact heavy duty vinyl foam padding of 1.5 inches
- Netting is UV treated double layer pillowcase nylon
- Frame of 8’ x 4’ with additional overhead protection
Pick up this protective screen and you will find it helps with all sorts of drills. The screen can be used both indoors and outdoors. Even if you and your team practice every other day throughout the majority of the year, you will find this screen holds up strong.
Why do I Need a Portable Baseball Protective screen?
Your portable protective baseball screen functions exactly as it sounds, providing protection for you as well as your team’s players and fellow coaches while on and around the diamond. Protective screens provide protection for your team’s coach as he serves up meatballs in batting practice, your pitchers as they tinker with their pitching arsenal against live batters, players on base and even a pitching machine if you decide to use one during batting practice.
The Difference Between L-Screens, Sock Screens, and Base Screens
Each of these protective screens serves a unique purpose on the baseball diamond. As an example, base screens are perfect for players who are on base as well as coaches on the field. Strategically position base screens on the diamond by runners on the basepaths as well as your coaches on the field and they will be able to focus on perfecting their technique rather than worrying about being hit by a stray baseball. This screen can also be used to protect those who are playing catch on the field while batting practice and other activities are occurring, ensuring they are not struck by a baseball when trying to catch or throw a different baseball with a teammate or coach.
Sock screens are used to for protection behind home plate, catching the baseball so it does not move well beyond the area behind the batter’s box and possibly striking another player or coach. Sock screens will collect all the strikes and balls thrown by the pitcher making shagging a breeze.
L screens are used in both training and batting practice in outdoor and indoor facilities. Shaped similar to the letter "L", these protective screens make it that much easier for pitchers to throw baseballs with extensive protection from the netting. The bend in the screen creates an opening for the pitcher to deliver the baseball without subjecting the rest of his body to harm from a baseball being sent right back to the mound at a high velocity off the batter’s bat. L-screens are also very popular for players that use pitching machines during BP. The L screen, whether on the diamond or in the batting cage, will protect your investment from line drives. Afterall, a few good line drives can destroy a pitching machine!
Residential Vs. Commercial Baseball Screens
Certain protective screens are of comparably high quality while others are lower in quality and often cheaper in price. The low-quality nets are unsuitable for commercial use yet can be used in backyards at residences, little league parks and local parks. Some protective screens are optimal for use on major league baseball fields while others are ideal for little league baseball.
Residential screens are often of lower quality than commercial screens, because they will not be used as often a commercial screen. The level of quality of a commercial screen is just not necessary for little league practice or a backyard batting cage. If you are in the market for a residential L screen, check out this best seller!
Commercial screens are built to stand the test of time, featuring nuanced netting along with extra thick steel that can take a beating and hold strong. In fact, padding is added to this steel to minimize the velocity of ricochets off the perimeter of the structure, ultimately making the protective screen that much safer for coaches, players, parents and everyone else in the vicinity of the practice field. Many times the netting is also treated with a UV resistant substance, allowing you more years of use.
If you're in the market for a safe and durable commercial L-screen, be sure to check out this bullet L-screen!
Different Netting for Screens
The protective screen netting you select should be tailored to the specific applications you have in mind. Containment netting, also known as barrier netting, is often used for protective screens that safeguard the area by baseball field backstops. This netting keeps baseballs under control, ensuring they do not end up hitting someone or moving well beyond the area in question. The diameter of barrier/containment netting is specifically designed to contain baseballs.
Protective netting, also known as safety netting is commonly used for protective screens within batting cages and on the baseball diamond. Safety screens are available in the form of L-screens that provide the pitcher with much-needed protection while delivering baseballs over the plate. Batting cage nets feature fully enclosed rectangles with a ceiling, end walls and side walls. These components are connected through a single piece of netting so the baseball does not escape.
The subtleties of the material used for your netting matter a great deal. A reliance on the wrong netting is the top reason why protective screens fail. As an example, #36 gauge netting is optimal for high school baseball while #21 gauge netting is ideal for little league baseball, #60 gauge netting is perfect for college/pro baseball and #42 gauge netting is used by high school and college baseball players. Even the subtleties of the netting material matter a great deal. Black is the optimal hue for deflecting the sun’s harmful UV rays. Ideally, the netting will be extruded featuring UV inhibitors, meaning they are infused when produced, rather than being surface coated.
The protective screen you select will last that much longer if it is water-resistant. Even if you live in the arid desert, an occasional rainstorm has the potential to reduce the quality of your screen’s netting. Exposure to humidity can water log the net, stressing the material all the more and causing deterioration sooner than expected. Opt for a pre-treated protective baseball screen or treat it on your own to extend the screen’s useful life.
Dense netting is also favorable. Twisted twine netting is that much denser than other varieties. Denser netting provides additional material for baseballs to gradually chew through. We would be remiss not to mention knotted netting on protective screens is much better than knotless netting. Netting of the knotted variety is reinforced at the intersection point. This point is the area where netting usually fails. Alternatively, knotless netting on baseball protective screens is not reinforced at the intersection point.
Final Words
Take some time to think about the different protective screens you will need for your baseball practices. Do your research, ask fellow baseball coaches about the screens they prefer and you will find the perfect protective screens for your team.