Randy Smith
Chattanooga now has a super elite baseball and softball training facility and it's being managed by a very familiar name. Former Chattanooga Lookout and Major League hitting instructor Sal Rende is the guy and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit on Tuesday. You see, Sal and I go way back. When he was a member of the Lookouts in the late 1970s and 80s we became good friends. In fact, Sal filled in for me on the air on WDEF-TV a few times. After retirement as a player he went to work as a coach, then hitting instructor for several big league teams, most recently the Philadelphia Phillies.
Even though he spent many years as a hitting instructor he continued to make his off-season home in Chattanooga where he and his wife Toni raised their children.
Sal's best year in minor league ball came in 1981 when he hit 25 home runs and drove in 93 runs, Most of his minor league career was with the Lookouts and he quickly became one of the most popular players to ever play at Engel Stadium.
Sal and the Phillies parted ways several weeks ago and he decided he had enough of the travel and stress of being employed by a Major League team. " A buddy of mine got me a job sitting behind a desk with a computer and that lasted three weeks. I've got to be up and moving around."
He was then contacted by Topper Gardenhire who had bought the D-Bat franchise and needed a manager. Sal agreed to be the general ,manager of the sparkling new facility and the rest as they say, is now history. D-Bat opened in late November and you really must see it to believe it. Sixteen batting cages as well as several pitching mounds set up and they even have a pro shop where you can purchase just about any piece of baseball equipment. There is also a big party room for birthday parties or gender reveal events.
The D-Bat facility is located at 4857 Geminus Dr. just off Jersey Pike and Sal and his crew would love for you to stop by and take a few cuts in the cages. There are plenty of camps and clinics almost weekly. Memberships are available, or you can just stop in, purchase tokens and swing away.
D-Bat is one of the hottest franchises in the country and the new Chattanooga facility is the 88th to open up. In fact, there are six in the Atlanta area alone. We should all be extremely proud that Chattanooga now has its own D-Bat and even prouder that Sal Rende is in charge.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com