The Home Run Dugout, a new baseball entertainment venue, will soon open in Katy. Similar to the Topgolf concept, Home Run Dugout has a projected opening date of mid-March and will be located in the same complex as other attractions such as Popstroke, Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games, Katy Asian Town and Cinemark Theater.
The tech-heavy 46,000-square-foot venue has 12 batting bays, a full-service restaurant and two bars, said Colby Smith, general manager.
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“The whole goal is to find a way to socialize baseball and make it easier and fun for people who aren’t necessarily baseball lovers,” Smith said. “We want to try to find a way like Top Golf to make it less intimidating and make it where it can be a social experience.”
The experience is designed around batting bays, which are similar in concept to batting cages, but the ball comes off the ground as opposed to hitting the batter, Smith said. Once hit, the ball flies into a screen, which in turn triggers a ball to be hit in a stadium.
“You hit the ball on the screen, and then the sensors on the surface pick up the characteristics of the ball’s flight, its direction, its speed, etc., and then it shows you a simulated path of the ball’s flight,” explained said Smith. “It’s like you’re playing a big video game.”
The game’s stadiums can be customized to any stadium in the country, Smith added. “You can set it up where you play at Fenway or Minute Maid Park or Wrigley Field – whatever you want,” he said.
Each bay can accommodate eight to 12 batters, and the bays have full service food and beverages.
While the main focus of the Home Run Dugout is the batting bays, Jason Borchik, vice president of business development believes the area will become a popular destination for socializing and dining, even without a game.
“There is a full service restaurant and bar, so you can come here and just focus on batting, but you can also come here just to eat and watch sports on the TVs we have here,” said Borchik.
The facility also has a wiffle ball field. Unlike the bays, where reservations are preferred, the field is first-come-first served. Adjacent to the grounds is a beer garden with about 10 rotating taps featuring local brews, Borchik added.
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“We want to give people options, so they can just go for a normal date night and not play baseball, or they can go with a good group of friends and watch- well in the NFL draft, or they can reserve a bay and swing,” Borchik said.
The Home Run Dugout carries a baseball theme throughout the venue. The walls are decorated with jersey numbers for famous players. The custom cocktails have baseball centric names, and the food is “inspired by the ballparks,” Smith said.
“You’ll find a lot of things you’d expect to see in a ballpark: hot dogs, hamburgers, wings and nachos, but they’re all elevated to a certain extent,” he said.
There are also lighter options on the menu, Borchik said. “We want to appeal to a wide audience, so you can also see things like really good salads,” he said.
The Katy location is the second Home Run Dugout. The original venue was located in Austin. Smith said Katy was chosen because the area is growing fast.
The decision was strategic, he added, as the area quickly became a recreational destination for the state.
“You see places like Andretti’s and Popstroke here, which has really turned this into an entertainment hub,” Smith said. “We are lucky to be neighbors with them, and we want to see this place become a place where people can come for the day and move from one place to another for a whole day of fun.”
claire.goodman@chron.com
