Former White Sox pro hopes batting cages at Beaufort’s 1st baseball facility will be a hit

Town Center, the Beaufort shopping center located on Boundary Street, the city’s gateway, already features 10 restaurants, fitness facilities, a grocery and clothing stores. Soon pitching machines and batting cages where budding baseball players will stare down curves, change-ups and 95 mph fastballs will join them.

A former professional baseball player with deep roots in the game who now calls the Lowcountry home hopes to hit it out of the park with the new indoor training facility, known as Hitters University. It’s under development in a former shoe store and next door to a nail salon and owner Tyler Osik is planning a June opening.

Osik says the indoor baseball facility will be the Beaufort’s first. He’s a former Division I college player who worked and sweated for five years with minor league affiliates of the Chicago White Sox hoping for “the call” from the big league club. Now he’s a coach hoping to pass along what he’s learned to the next generation of dreamers — both baseball and softball players.

“This is going to be where the cages are,” said Osik on Wednesday, as workers readied the space that will be his next adventure in baseball.

What the facility will have

The facility will feature four batting cages and pitching machines. Osik and other coaches will also mentor players in offensive and defensive skills of the game.

Memberships and group training for baseball and softball players will be offered. Mostly likely, the cages will be available for rent by the general public, but the focus will be developing players, from kids to adults, says Osik.

His love for the game was developed early watching his father, Keith Osik, a catcher and third baseman who played in the big leagues from 1996-2005 for the Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Nationals.

After he retired in 2005, Keith Osik opened a indoor baseball facility in Long Island, where Tyler grew up.

“I’ve been around it my whole life so it’s kind of what I know,” Tyler said.

His own facility will feature a TV monitor and swing video set up in one of the batting cages that will assist Osik during private lessons. “I will break down their swing mechanics,” Osik said.

Transition to coaching

Osik, 28, knows how hard it is to hit a baseball, which some have described as the most difficult skill of any professional sport. And he knows the challenges young players will face in their journeys.

At 16, Osik knew he had the ability to compete at a high level and dedicated his life to the sport.

A star at Shoreham-Wading River High School in New York, he attended Chipola College in Marianna, Fla. before transferring to D-I University of Central Florida in Orlando. In 2019, he was drafted in the 27th round by the Chicago White Sox. Primarily a catcher and utility player, hitting was his strength.

But while he rose to the Double-A level in the White Sox farm system, the call never came and Osik decided to teach others what he had learned about the physical and mental demands of the game, first as a coach with Long Island University in Brookville.

He launched Hitters University in 2022 in which he developed young athletes through in-person lessons or remotely but he didn’t have his own facility. The Hitters University brand still maintains a strong online presence, with Osik providing baseball tips and lessons on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Osik moved to the Lowcountry about a year ago with his significant other, Juliana, and their daughter, Ella Rae. At the time, he was still playing and training. He immediately noticed the lack of a baseball training facility, which forced him to travel to Savannah to practice.

With the new facility in Beaufort, Osik is transitioning to in-person training.

Falling in love with baseball

On Wednesday, the distinctive shape of a home plate marked the floor near near netting that will soon be raised to catch baseballs.

Osik has player development in mind with the new facility. He wants to see kids chase their dreams just like he did.

“We’re trying to meet the player where they are,” he says.

Besides the batting cages, a sports performance area with weights and other equipment also are planned. The cages can be retracted for defensive instruction and speed and agility training well. Osik says he’s looking to create a “community feel” at the facility where players “all grind together.”

Growing up, Osik’s favorite team was always the club his Dad was playing for at the time. Over the years, he spent a lot of time in big league parks and when he wasn’t watching in person he was soaking up knowledge from his Dad as they watched games together at home. Keith Osik recently visited his son’s baseball start-up.

“It was like the family thing to do in my family,” Tyler Osik says of the importance of baseball in his early years. “I just fell in love with it through that process.”

Read more at: https://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/community/beaufort-news/article305916476.html#storylink=cpy