How to Select a Pitching Machine
When I grew up (mid-70s) the pitching
machines that were available to us were based at a batting cage and required
my mom or dad to drive us to use them and spend a lot of money (I remember
50 cents for 12 pitches). The pitching machines also always had a bunch of people
standing around watching, putting pressure on us as we struggled to hit the
baseball. That process was costly,
time consuming, and rarely allowed for us to actually work on becoming a better
baseball hitter.
As a
father of 2 sons who both play the game I have thrown balls in batting practice
until my shoulder aches to help them to perfect their swing. This practice has been great in
developing their ability to have a fundamentally sound baseball swing but has
been limited by my availability. My
wife will occasionally throw some BP but it is not her favorite thing to do
(even though she is pretty good at it!).
The
best part of the issue surrounding how to get my kids more swings is that my kids love to hit a
baseball! If this describes you then read on...
This dilemma caused me to begin to
research baseball pitching machines a few years ago for our personal use. There are as many softball pitching machines as there are baseball pitching
machines and I was amazed at what was available, even though some of the
machines were a little hard to find. I was even impressed that they make baseball
softball pitching machines that are combination of both!
When I talked to other coaches about pitching machines they raved about
how the consistency of the mechanics of a baseball swing need to be developed
through lots of repetition and that a pitching machine was the best way to
give the players the repetition needed to perfect their mechanics. A couple of them thought that the
machines would be too expensive to put into a personal use setup but I was
happily surprised at how affordable the machines are today.
There
is a great saying in baseball that says hitters will always find a place in the
lineup. That is never more true
than when your son or daughter begins to play competitively, whether on travel
teams or simply as they get older and the requirement that all kids play equal
amounts of time is removed. The
best hitters always play every coach wants to compete and to win, that is one
of the main reasons they are coaches.
Having your son or daughter practicing the mechanics of hitting a
baseball will help them to improve to the point that the coach will want to have
them in the game all the time so they never miss an at-bat. It happened for my
sons and it can happen for you, too.
Once my boys had the ability to hit every day, any time that they
wanted to, the results were fantastic.
Our pitching machine made our house the central place for our
neighborhood boys to gather almost daily, so the whole neighborhood began to hit
better as result.
When
trying to figure out which type of pitching machine is right for you, it helps
to review a handful of items:
1)
Surroundings - The area that the
machine will be used is important is it for personal use in your backyard or
is it for use at the ball field for a team?
2)
Age and skill level of play of the players
who will be using the pitching machine the most players under the age of 12 do
not need the speed and curveball, slider, knuckle ball capability that some of
the more robust machines offer.
3)
Budget Pitching machines
can range from $180 to $3-4,000 in price.
Knowing what you have to spend up front can
make the selection much easier for you. I will walk you through the different options and price
ranges on the next page so you can be sure your budget matches the
type of machine desired.
4)
Pitching Machine Type Pitching
machines have different methods of delivering a pitch to a batter. Some are operated with two wheels
spinning, some use a single wheel, some use forced air pressure and others use
an arm that throws the ball. We
will discuss the pros and cons of each type of machine on the next couple of
pages.
5)
Options There are a
number of excellent options that can be added to pitching machines, depending on
your circumstances. Remote Control devices to turn the machine on and off and control the timing of the next pitch, battery packs that allow units
to operate without electricity, and auto-feeder systems that stack baseballs and then feed
the balls into the machine at set intervals are some of
the options available on today's pitching machines.
If
you would like to return to the Baseball Skill Aids homepage, click on our
logo in the upper left-hand corner. We will discuss the
different pitching machine categories on the next page of How
To Select A Pitching Machine .
