Buying a pitching machine
- Thread starter Annesdad
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If you're in the NJ/eastern PA area, I have a Jugs machine with cart that I'm looking to sell. PM if interested.
Yep! I hope your blog also covers how to feed it correctly. I see a lot of methods when at cages and practiceds. My DD prefers the front toss method, mostly because I stink at feeding the machine. It's especially tough to practice slapping when she can't tell when the ball is coming out when it sticks a little.
We bought a First Line one (pretty much a cheaper jugs version). For the last 2 seasons the only time we really pull it out is for tryouts and to sometimes feed fly balls.
I find that funny, we do same thing.
1/2 if not more of OF is seeing ball off the bat, great you can hit of a pitching machine.
1/2 if not more of OF is seeing ball off the bat, great you can hit of a pitching machine.
Front toss is great, but the problem with hitting is not reaction time itself. It's reaction time caused by speed. That's the one thing that a pitching machine can provide that tee, front toss & side toss cannot - the actual speed of a live pitch. Reaction time is not a problem independent of speed, else it would be hard to hit fungos. Gotta hit fungos or self-toss in a fraction of a second, but it's not too hard. The problem is the speed (and change of speed and movement).
I'm not therefore endorsing the investment into a hitting machine. They're expensive. But I do believe that machines can be very helpful provided that the hitter is being instructed correctly and doesn't fall into problems caused if the machine is being used incorrectly. The instructor needs to understand sequence and find a way to get the hitter in sequence off a machine, or else you could cause real problems. IMO, key here is getting hitter to anticipate when the ball comes out of the chute so hitter is moving out as ball is coming in. If move out is too early or late, you can screw up your swing without knowing what hit you.
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You can do front toss on a field with an L-screen. Move the screen closer if you need to simulate faster pitches. The problem with pitching machines is every pitch hits a pie pan. I have seen a lot of "cage hitting phenoms" who wear out a pitching machine then bat .120 vs. live pitching...
shaker1
Softball Junkie
Our team has use of a 3 wheeled machine. Does great, throws every pitch you can think of, but I'll throw front toss 95% of the time. Really not a fan of the machine, but you can't beat it for speed, next to live pitching. I've seen kids that are deadly at a certain location that hit machines regularly, but struggle against front toss, especially when moving the ball around. My youngest DD pitches and I'll be moving her into some of the BP duties, not full on pitching, but a full windmill behind a screen at about 30'. She's faster and more accurate than I am, and I'll be getting some work in for her as well. You can tell alot about a swing from throwing front toss, but you need a side view as well. As long as I can keep them (my 2 dd's) from taking swings at each other, we may have a productive winter, lol.
I have had the idea of changing that machine to using baseball's just to hit something a little smaller.
I have had the idea of changing that machine to using baseball's just to hit something a little smaller.
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- Dec 11, 2010
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I agree with all this. I'll add that I am completely against setting the machine to a high speed. Mine is set at least 10 mph slower than max speed we see in games. And even though it isn't as fast as we see in games, it helps with fast pitching. I'll spare you my theories on that.
I also front toss through a net. I value it so much that I have had to patch it from batted balls wearing a hole in it. I also pay a guy to pitch to my kids every week. Live pitching is like Gold. But there is real value in machine work too.
Best answer is do both imho.
I wrote a big post about it couple weeks ago, didn't get much love, lol
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