Home Run Dugout, the first-ever sports bar, restaurant, and entertainment venue featuring indoor soft-toss baseball, is now open in Katy at 1220 Grand West Blvd. A brand-new way to play baseball with friends, Home Run Dugout has reinvented the batting cage, offering an immersive, social gamified playing experience suitable for sluggers of all ages and skill levels.

Co-founded by Nick Hermandorfer and Tyler Bambrick, Home Run Dugout was founded with the dream to have everyone experience the greatest feeling in sports: hitting a home run. Austin-based Hermandorfer, who graduated as a two-sport NCAA athlete from Princeton University, has always been passionate about the power of sports bringing people together. After working in the start-up world in Austin, he decided to pursue an MBA at the University of Texas and launched Home Run Dugout, LLC in 2015.

A Houston native, Tyler Bambrick, co-founder and COO of Home Run Dugout, is a proud graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After two deployments to Afghanistan, Tyler earned his MBA from the University of Texas. While living and going to school in Austin, Tyler joined Nick and his vision of making Home Run Dugout a reality.

In partnership with strategic investors Nolan Ryan and Ryan Sanders Baseball, Nick and Tyler opened the first Home Run Dugout in 2019 at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. The Home Run Dugout Katy location is the first full-scale standalone Home Run Dugout venue, and was brought to life through the strategic partnership of Lagniappe Capital Partners, BCS Capital, and the friends and families of Hermandorfer and Bambrick.

“People are seeking out activities to experience with friends and family besides going to a bar and watching TV,” Hermandorfer said. “We believe life is all about shared experiences, and we are confident that a little friendly competition is the best way to bring people together over drinks, laughter and home runs.”

The 46,000-square-foot venue has 12 indoor Batting Bays, similar to the concept of batting cages (without the cage), featuring proprietary, state-of-the-art pitching technology and augmented reality, which allows players to simulate their hit in any Major League Baseball stadium, including Houston’s Minute Maid Park, and digitally track the ball’s exit velocity, distance and location.

The “secret sauce” is a patented ground-up, soft-toss pitching machine located in each Batting Bay, which safely delivers pitches over the strike-zone with no risk of foul balls, as the machine minimizes the horizontal trajectory of a pitched ball. Instead, the ball pops up from the ground. Each bay features a 20x15 foot screen and five TVs, allowing players to track not only hitting stats, but be in control of whatever sporting event or other programming they want to watch. Each Batting Bay can fit groups of up to 12 people and accommodates players of all skill levels. Dallas-based sporting goods company Warstic, co-founded by four-time MLB All-Star Ian Kinsler and musician Jack White, supplies ten different sizes and models of bats at each Bay, suitable for all skill levels.

For those looking to take their game outside, the venue’s Biergarten Baseball mini-field is the perfect spot for league play or a pick-up game of wiffle ball or kick ball, complete with stadium lights, an outfield net, RS3 Turf, and a vintage scoreboard. The field offers open play on a first come first served basis, and eventually will host league play, Dinger Derby tournaments, movie nights, and concerts.

Beyond the baseball experience, the venue features a full-service restaurant, concert stage, and three bars. A massive patio and biergarten wrap around the mini-field, with shaded seating, fire pits, and Adirondack and hanging papasan chairs, with seating for nearly 500 guests. Partners, Matchstick by HFA and ARCO/Murray, helped bring the vision and design to life of the space, which models a baseball stadium concourse and gives visitors a broad view of the wiffle ball field diamond as soon as they enter the venue. Baseball-themed design features can be found throughout, including weathered steel walls in the main dining and bar area that mimic the color of a baseball glove. The private event space which comfortably seats up to 65 guests, with its own bar and two Batting Bays, includes a white and blue tile wall with a repeating number pattern, featuring significant numbers in baseball history.

The restaurant’s extensive menu features elevated ballpark-inspired fare, with shareables like crispy chicken sliders, smoked chicken wings, and buttermilk onion rings, lighter options including a Texas cobb salad, Caesar salad, and poke bowl, and flatbreads including pepperoni and smoked brisket, among others.

Staying true to its ballpark roots, the hot dog grill serves up four different types of dogs, including a Chicago dog, ballpark classic, dugout dog with chili, spicy slaw, and crispy onions, and the NY classic with sauerkraut and mustard. Entrée plates include a classic burger, truffled patty melt, chicken tinga tacos, smoked ribeye sandwich, and smoked yardbird, among others. Dessert options include churros, classic root beer float, and a brownie sundae, and a kids meals menu with all the favorites.

“We’re an immersive baseball entertainment experience, but we’re also a full restaurant and bar,” Bambrick said. “We look forward to bringing Katy a new happy hour hangout, game day watch party headquarters, date night spot, and corporate event venue. Home Run Dugout has an experience for everyone.”

Home Run Dugout will be open Sunday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-midnight; Friday from 11 a.m.-2 a.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m.-2 a.m.

“Hitting a home run is an unmatched experience, whether you’re an athlete or not,” Hermandorfer said. “Our mission is to share that experience with as many people as possible, rain or shine. Even if you want to sit it out, you can still enjoy a cold beverage and delicious food while heckling your friends and family at bat.”