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in
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business & professional
Think Spring!
JUDY GREENWALD
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Reuben Levy and Corey Moskovitz
details
The Baseball Lab is open seven
days a week: Monday-Friday
from 3-9 p.m. or by appointment,
Saturday from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. and
Sunday from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. To find
out more, call (248) 719-7868 or
visit BaseballLabNovi.com.
48
February 9 • 2017
I
t’s February in Michigan. The
temperatures have settled
somewhere around freezing,
and sometimes it seems the sun
has escaped to more sublime
southern locations.
However, two enterprising and
sports-minded men are definitely
thinking spring — training, that
is. And that means only one
thing: baseball.
Since 2014, Reuben Levy and
Corey Moskovitz have shared
their love of the sport by running
the Baseball Lab in Novi, a fully
equipped facility that offers skill
building and training, individual
coaching, clinics featuring for-
mer local professional players
like Dave Rozema, Matt Dillard
and Brian Johnson, and the latest
technology and games for fun
activities such as birthday par-
ties or corporate team-building
events.
Levy, 43, of Novi owned the
building and was already run-
ning his own business, Global
Office Solutions, when Moskovitz
approached him with the idea for
the Baseball Lab.
“Corey is amazingly passionate
about baseball and was looking
to open a training facility,” said
Levy, who belongs to Chabad
of Novi and Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park. “I had the
space and the business back-
ground, and Corey had the base-
ball and coaching experience.”
jn
LOVE OF THE GAME
“Baseball is a way of life for
me,” agreed Moskovitz, 48, who
belongs to Temple Kol Ami in
West Bloomfield, the city where
he also lives. Moskovitz played
the game in high school, college
and into his mid-20s. He also
coached his son Aaron through-
out his youth. Moskovitz proudly
noted the young man was just
awarded a full college scholar-
ship playing baseball.
The two men were also instru-
mental in starting the Novi Nitro
Baseball Club, which uses the
Baseball Lab as its home and
now has 11 teams for children
from 8 years old through high
school. Levy’s 10-year-old son
Zachariah is on the 10U Novi
Nitro team and trains with
Moskovitz.
“The Baseball Lab is going
very well, and we’re coming into
one of our busiest times of the
year,” Levy said. “We keep getting
busier each month. Two things
that really set us apart are our
technology and our membership
program. For as little as $45 a
month, we offer unlimited tunnel
and pitching machine time, plus
discounts on lessons, equipment
and apparel. Also, we provide
cage rentals for as low as $30 per
half-hour and training packages
as well.
“We have four multi-use tun-
A customer works on his batting stance.
Improve your skills
at Novi’s Baseball Lab.
nels that are 15’ by 15’ by 70’ that
include batting cages. I love the
batting cage!” Levy said with a
smile.
The tunnels can be opened
up to a full field for simulated
practice. In addition to baseball
and softball training, you can
play dodge ball, Nerf gun wars,
fowling (a game that combines
football and bowling founded by
Detroiter Chris Hutt) and one of
the Baseball Lab’s most popular
activities, the Hit Trax simula-
tors, which project 15 different
MLB parks onto a high-defini-
tion 13-foot TV screen and other
screens throughout the facility,
for simulated baseball and soft-
ball play.
“We also do a lot of one-on-
one training for players from age
6 to adults,” added Moskovitz.
Full baseball training includes
instruction in areas like hitting,
pitching, catching, fielding and
throwing, as well as offering
player assessments, 3D swing
analysis and sport strategy.
“Seeing a young child improve
in his or her playing and the
awesome effect it has is one of
the best parts of working at the
Baseball Lab,” Levy said. “Right
now is the best time to get in
shape and sharpen one’s skills.
Living in Michigan, it’s obviously
tough to practice outside during
winter. We offer a way for people
to start working and practicing
now so they can truly compete
come springtime.” •
Levy’s son Zach pla ys on the 10U Novi Nitro team.