THE CRACK of bats hitting balls is music to the ears of baseball fans everywhere, and D-BAT Bowling Green is a symphony in the making with its 13 batting cages and professional instructors who live and breathe the sport. The newest in that lineup is Weston Robinson, and just a few months into his career, he has been making an impact on Bowling Green’s baseball players.
Originally from Paducah, Robinson moved to Bowling Green in December for a corporate job. He reached out to D-BAT as a way to continue his connection to baseball in a new area — he’d coached before for middle school and part of a season with the Paducah Chiefs.
The corporate job didn’t work out, but Robinson found his home with D-BAT. He started as a trainer, and it wasn’t long before he was promoted to assistant manager of the facility on top of his coaching duties. It’s a challenging position, juggling a seven-day-a-week schedule, but Robinson said it doesn’t feel like work.
“The most fun part is getting to do stuff related to baseball every single day,” Robinson said. “It’s fun, competitive, and makes you still feel young.”
Baseball has been a part of Robinson’s whole life, almost since he could walk. Even now, at an age where he doesn’t play as much, he loves watching the game and coaching players — especially at D-BAT, where he said he is able to make a bigger impact on those he works with. Instead of coaching a whole team at once, he gets to work one-on-one with kids or in small groups of three to five.
“Within the first three weeks of having our coach-pitch class, I mean, I have the kids coming up, giving me hugs, [telling] me they missed me through the week and were looking forward to class,” Robinson said. “It’s getting them out of their shell, getting them used to communicating a little bit better, and maybe since they haven’t [gotten] to play organized baseball before, this is their first taste of it.”
Coaching in Bowling Green has been an awesome experience, Robinson said. “Born and raised in Paducah, [I] spent my whole life there, and this is a really good change of scenery,” Robinson said. “It’s not too big — it’s not like moving to St. Louis or Chicago. You get a good feel of a bigger area with still a small-town feel. But I have really enjoyed it, and I’m glad I have finally made the move.”
One day, Robinson wants to go back into coaching in the school system, or maybe even at the college level. In the meantime, he said he is focused on making D-BAT more successful and on giving better and better lessons to everyone in the community who wants to step into a batting cage.
“There’s still plenty of space here at D-BAT for the rest of the kids in the community to come. We’re not filled up,” Robinson said. “We want everybody to feel like a family here.” GN
D-BAT Bowling Green can be found at 542 Three Springs Rd. or online at dbatbowlinggreen.com.
