Houston baseball trainer launched dream business coaching top pitchers one-on-one

Kyle Owens has always been a numbers man, so moving from a quality management job in manufacturing to baseball trainer seemed like a natural pivot.

In 2019, he launched Baseball Moves, a private coaching business where he travels to client’s home, parks or other training areas in the Houston, Texas, area.

He vowed to only use quality, professional equipment – but it had to be something he can lift in and out of his truck and set up wherever he might be working with athletes.

He did his research before buying the equipment he uses for Baseball Moves and said Portolite is the best in the business. “I couldn’t ask for better.”

The transition to athletic trainer was an unexpected but exciting change for Owens. The company he previously worked for eliminated his job in 2019. Looking for a next chapter, the proverbial light bulb went off for Owens at a Baseball Factory Winter Classic event with his grandson.

Trainers there were using sophisticated equipment to analyze teen players’ batting swings and power.

“I went over to my wife and said, ‘I can work with that,’” Owens recalled with excitement. “We talked about it and decided to make the investment.”

Owens loves sports, playing football and baseball in high school, but he didn’t pursue those passions in college. He graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s in chemistry and spent decades helping to develop products used in everything from bowling balls to acrylic tubs and sinks.

“The key things in my background really apply to both,” Owens said. “I look at things from a highly detailed and analytic, scientific perspective. That’s what I did in manufacturing, that’s what I do now in training.”

Owens said his business is affiliated with the National Pitching Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Using equipment such as Portolite’s pitching mounds help to ensure clients have top-of-the-line products and methods to help them improve.

He uses a two-piece pitching mound, perfect for his young clients. They are light weight and also offer a full stride.

“I don’t have a facility,” he noted. “I go to people and set up in a backyard. I was in a city park this morning. I load the mound and drive to where I use it. I walk it over to where we’re training, set it up, and we get to pitching and hitting.”

Owens works mostly with high school-aged players and said he enjoys seeing them grow into their athleticism.

“Baseball recruitment has changed extensively in the past decade,” he said. “Instead of teams sending scouts to little league games, recruiters are focusing more and more on numbers and figures. So, if you don’t know your numbers, you are not behind in the game, you are not even in the game.”

“I really stress focused practice to get that a-ha moment,” he said. “I’m very focused on getting the motions just right and then getting them up to speed. I use all the technology to give them feedback.”

That’s paid off for one client, a senior in high school and top pitcher in the Houston area.

“He’s pitched in a lot of places,” Owens said. “And he told me Portolite is the best portable pitching mound he’s pitched on.”

Portolite Pitching Mound’s limited warranty says it all. Portolite has set the standard in lightweight, durable and portable pitching mounds since 1992.