Never been a fan of hitting in the cages (obviously it is necessary sometimes, we're in Ohio). I threw to my son on a field as much as possible when he was growing up....whether it was on a 280' fence when he was 12-14 or on the HS field when he was 15U and up. As someone said earlier, you get a "visual" that you can't get in the cage....even if you mark the cage somehow. I would call every ball he hit.....and out or a hit. Sometimes he didn't like it "center fielder made a diving grab" 
but I really do think it made him a better hitter. In the cage, he would just swing as hard as he could....and have no idea where the ball would have gone. On a field, he would strive to get 10 straight hits before making an out. He was never big also had the power to put 5 or 6 straight over the fence on the HS field if he hit it good....but realized that a lot of times trying to go for the fence was just him long fly outs. He would hit plenty of HR's but in most cases they were the result of a good swing. He hit 4 HR's his senior year....I really think all the BP we took on the field the summer before was a big part of it
