A well-organized dugout does more than just help your players find their gear quickly when they need it. It keeps your space tidy, your equipment protected and your players safe from tripping hazards. It also helps your players stay focused on the game, without getting distracted by all the clutter around them. To keep your dugout in ship-shape during games, you need to have a solid system in place. Allow us to share some of our best baseball dugout organizer ideas.
High school and college teams often have built-in baseball helmet dugout organizers or baseball bat racks for their dugouts. Having baseball helmet holders or bat holders for dugouts is ideal because it protects a team’s most valuable and easily damaged equipment. But since youth or recreational leagues typically can’t afford these luxuries for their dugouts, most of us need to get creative when it comes to dugout organization.
It takes some ingenuity to keep all of your gear organized and out of the way. It’s important that you have specially designated spots for players to place their gear when they come off the field to keep your dugout orderly and prevent items from getting lost. Here are a few softball and baseball dugout organizer ideas you might consider:
BatBobs: Our company Sportwaves invented one of the best and least expensive solutions for dugout organization – the BatBob! It’s easy for players to hook their BatBobs on a dugout fence, then place their bat in the adjustable loop and hang their mitts, batting helmets and other gear on the three large hooks. For even more order, a lot of teams like to hang their BatBobs in the order of their batting lineup. When it’s a player’s turn to bat or take the field, they just grab their gear and go. Part of what makes BatBobs so ideal is they don’t take up space on the dugout floor or obstruct players’ views from the dugout because of their slim profile. Players can also just unclip them after the game and carry all of their gear on their BatBobs. So easy!
Personalizing Your Dugout Organization with BatBob
Part of what makes BatBobs such great dugout organizers is that they are so easy to personalize for each of your players. You can add your player names and numbers along with your team colors and your team name or logo. The ability to create your own design for the customizable ‘home plate’ area above the bat loop allows each player to create his or her own unique visual signature! It’s even possible to order new customized home plates each year on the BatBob website for when new players join the team.
Dugout Buckets: You can buy plastic buckets that you place on the dugout floor to store gloves, balls and other small items. Players can use a marker or stickers to add their name to their buckets. As with BatBobs, some teams will place buckets in the order of their lineup. This is an inexpensive option, but the buckets can take up a lot of space and may not work well for bats or helmets.
Hanging Helmet Bags: For an additional investment, you can purchase hanging helmet bags that can be attached to the dugout fence. Softball or baseball helmet dugout organizers like these have various compartments for your helmets, gloves and other gear. The downside of these baseball helmet holders though is that they cover up a lot of the dugout fence and can therefore obstruct your view out on the playing field. It’s also harder to designate helmets for particular players since they’re all stored together.
Hanging Bat Caddies: One alternative to baseball bat racks for dugouts are portable bat caddies that you can slide your bats into to keep them organized and off the ground. The best of these bat holders for dugouts have mesh sleeves so it’s easy for players to recognize their bats. Like helmet bags though, these can also obstruct players’ views of the game. It’s also common for the bat sleeves to tear with extended use.
Bring Order to Your Batting Order!
Keeping your baseball or softball dugout organized is a great way to give your team a sense of pride and orderliness. It can also prevent injuries when people trip over bats, helmets and other gear on your dugout floor. At Sportwaves, we’re proud of how practical our BatBob dugout organizers are. Regardless of what you choose for organizing your dugout though, we just hope you’ll find a solution that works great for your team. Because when it’s time for players to take their at bat or for your team to take the field, the last thing you need is a scavenger hunt!
