About Beast Hack

Beast Hack was born from a lifetime of baseball and a single hitting lesson that changed everything.

Founder Keaton Smith grew up in Valrico, Florida, where he taught himself to switch hit as a kid, throwing a tennis ball against the side of his house and hitting it when it bounced back. Since he was right-handed, he couldn't throw across his body and get his hands back in time, so he learned to hit left-handed out of pure necessity. That self-teaching spirit would define everything that came after.

Keaton went on to lead his high school team in home runs, play college baseball at Shorter University and then star as a catcher at Albany State University, winning back-to-back SIAC Championships in 2003 and 2004 and earning selection to the NCAA/Rawlings All-South Regional Team.

After college, Keaton was clocked at 94 mph from the outfield, 94 mph from shortstop, and recorded a 1.87 pop time from behind the plate at an international baseball tryout. He received offers from Austria, Belgium, and Germany, ultimately choosing to play for the Schwaz Tigers in the Austrian Bundesliga.

The Paul Blair Moment

During an all-star break in Austria, the New York Yankees sent a European tour team of prospects coached by Larry Massaroni and Paul Blair, two former Yankees from the late 1970s. Before a home run derby, Keaton asked Paul Blair for one golden nugget of hitting advice.

Blair told him: "Train to the power alleys and center field. Your best power and contact points are out front. The hands are just off the front hip, and the barrel correlation to the hands depends on what pitch you're trying to hit, behind the hands on inside, even on middle, just in front on outside."

Paul worked with Keaton for about ten minutes. Then the home run derby started. Keaton was the last hitter, and he won. The first person to meet him at home plate was Paul Blair.

From Concept to Creation

Fourteen years later, in 2019, Keaton decided to manufacture the same training concept he'd used in Europe into a device that could help kids teach themselves proper hitting mechanics. Working with engineers and manufacturing partners in Georgia, he spent five years developing, prototyping, and perfecting what became the Beast Hack hitting station.

Along the way, Beast Hack was granted five United States patents (including two utility patents and three design patents) and won a four-and-a-half-year federal trademark opposition against Monster Energy Corporation, proving the resilience and determination that defines this brand.

Today, Beast Hack stations are installed in parks and recreation facilities across the country, teaching the next generation of players the same fundamentals that Paul Blair taught Keaton on a baseball field in Austria.