Prospect Sports, Melville

Prospect Sports lacks the elements every baseball player dreams of—the smell of freshly mowed grass beneath their cleats, half-eaten pretzels hurling over their heads, rows of seats that seem to never stop climbing into the sky. But that's because the facility intentionally eschews such romantic distractions in order to foster an ideal training environment, which in turn fosters better athletes. Amid a top-notch synthetic turf that plays like real grass and an adjustable netting system that snakes across 25,000 square feet of space, players hone their skills through performance training, video analysis, and private lessons that focus on specific aspects of sports including baseball and softball. The center also offers a "Build-a-Player" program, which integrates skill and performance training into one program to develop well-rounded athletes that can handle the pro leagues' 400-pound baseballs made of solid gold.