Baseball training and travel teams in Vernon Hills. We build strong athletic ballplayers, not just technically skilled ones — and we measure whether it’s working.
Measured on HitTrax, with launch angle and spray charts.
Tracked through a Driveline-based throwing program.
Speed work isn’t a separate night. It’s in the warmup and it runs through the whole practice.
A varsity coach walks into a gym with sixty kids and a weekend. He cannot see baseball IQ in that window. He cannot see whether your son is a good teammate, or how he handles a bad week, or whether he studies pitchers. Those things matter enormously, and they take a full season to show up.
What he can see in three days is how fast a kid moves, how the ball comes out of his hand, and what it sounds like off the bat. Those are the tools that get a player to the next round of cuts. Everything else gets evaluated after he has already made the team.
Hit bombs, throw gas, run fast is not a t-shirt. It is the short list of things that decide whether a fourteen-year-old gets a real look.
And all three are trainable. Not someday — this winter, in a building in Vernon Hills, with numbers on both ends so you can see what moved.
Most families start with one and end up doing both. You don’t have to be on a Gorilla team to train at Gorilla.
Open to everyone. Come in once a week or five times a week.
Lessons, camps, classes and cage time book online. For hitting leagues and speed and power, get in touch.
Book at the academy
Travel teams, youth through high school. Year-round development, not a summer rental.
We compete on Saturdays — nobody here is giving away a game to make a point. The long view shows up in how we build practice. What we work on in December is not what would win this weekend; it’s what a player still needs when he’s fourteen and standing in a high school tryout. If that trade sounds wrong to you, we’re probably not your program.
Roster spot one through twelve. If a player isn’t improving, that’s on us, and we’d rather hear about it early than at the end of the season.
Every player works the same infield actions regardless of where they end up playing. It builds footwork, hands, and arm strength that transfer everywhere on the field.
Master the fundamental perfectly, then get challenged with game-like situations. The goal is that games feel prepared for rather than surprising.
Opinions about a swing are cheap. Numbers are harder to argue with, and they show a player what actually changed between November and April.
Exit velocity, launch angle, and spray charts on every swing in the cage. It’s also what powers our indoor hitting leagues.
Bat sensors measuring bat speed, swing path, and rotation — the mechanics underneath the result.
Video swing analysis and a universal rating that tracks a player against himself over time. Included for every club player.
Our throwing work follows Driveline methodology — weighted balls, constraint drills, and pull-downs, scaled to age.
Seven teams and 84 players in 2026. For 2027 we’re building eight age groups, 8U through 15U, with training starting in November and running through July. Rosters fill through the fall.
Club fees cover coaching, uniforms, league and tournament entry, and a facility membership from November through July, with payment plans available. Club members also get 10% off lessons, camps, and clinics. We’ll walk you through the full number before you commit to anything — no surprises later.
Once a season the older teams go out of state. Not for the competition — you can find that an hour from home. For the place.
A travel season runs nine months. If the only thing a kid takes out of it is reps, that’s a long nine months.
So we put real work into the whole experience — the practices, the way they treat each other, and a handful of things that have nothing to do with getting better at baseball.
We’d rather you hear it from the parents who have been here.
Coaches do a great job recognizing the unique strengths and talents of each player and use that understanding to help every athlete grow. As a result, players not only improve their skills, they also build a genuine love for the game.
— Scott S.The program truly has an emphasis on development not just winning … Jason absolutely wants each player to improve and eventually make their high school team.
— Jennifer F.One of the few programs in the area that can teach your child the correct way to play the game. Their pro inspired infield training is top notch and it won’t take you long to notice big changes in your kids gameplay.
— Michael L.Seven thousand square feet on Corporate Woods Parkway. Six batting cages, one of them running HitTrax. Pull the cages back and the same room opens into turf space for defensive work, throwing, and speed and power sessions. Families drive in from across Lake County.
Stop in, call, or send a note. If you’re thinking about a team for 2027, the sooner we talk the better — rosters fill through the fall.
