- Dec 11, 2010
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I agree 100% with front toss and lots of it. I do exactly what you are describing. But.... coaches are going to use machines. If a few read all this and use them better, that is a good thing for players. Thus my crusade, lol
Hitting off machines vs. Front toss/Live
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I agree 100% with front toss and lots of it. I do exactly what you are describing. But.... coaches are going to use machines. If a few read all this and use them better, that is a good thing for players. Thus my crusade, lol
Honestly, this is the best argument I have seen so far for the use of machines. I have been to many clinics that use machines and several of the players I work with practice with machines at the colleges they attend.
Agree 100%! I should have added that you have to hold the feed ball with exactly the same orientation. I’ve seen girls plunked in the helmet because the person feeding the machine let the wheel catch a seam. You can get some crazy movement if you don’t make sure the wheel is catching the yellow of the ball.
Hitting live or front toss is ALWAYS better than a pitching machine. After 12U the only thing we used a pitching machine for was bunting drills. There are a lot of cage hitting phenoms who can wear out a pitching machine but will bat under .100 against live pitching.
- Dec 11, 2010
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Of course it is. I gladly pay a former member of Team USA $30 per half hour to pitch to my daughters. Total bargain. If I could replicate that in my cage at home I would.
But also, every weekend this month dd will be at a college camp and will be hitting machine balls at more than one station per weekend. She needs to know how to do that just like she needs to be able to hit the front toss stations.
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Would love to know which college camp she will be attending where she will be hitting off a pitching machine? My DD probably went to 10+ college camps I do not remember ever seeing a pitching machine...
While not a fan of it, I have witnessed this as well. One young lady that I work with tells me that most of her college's practices include hitting off a machine. I am currently working with her over Christmas break and hitting off the machine is one thing she specifically asked for. Not because she enjoys it, but to prepare for her college practice.
One DD participated in last summer was the Pennsbury Academic Camp. They did a number of different hitting stations, but hitting off a machine was part of it. I saw numerous players struggle considerably with the machine.
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For me, the best use of the machine I've had is with faster speeds, but I'm in a bit of a unique situation.
In short, most of our girls had NEVER faced anything fast. And our pitchers weren't capable of properly simulating. When they would face the occasional fast pitcher, most of them just had no idea how to adjust. They didn't understand the concept of "start earlier." They didn't realize they had to start their swing before the pitch was thrown (and before they decided if they were going to swing).
So the machine helped with that a lot. Even though it's not a perfect tool, I would start at what I considered the average speed we faced. Then I'd crank it up. And I would tell them I was cranking it up. I think it was important to tell them the speed was increasing or decreasing because my goal was not to trick or surprise them. I was teaching them timing. I'd even let them stand in for a pitch or two and not worry about swinging. Just get in there and see and learn to judge the speed.
For newer players who just haven't seen a ton of live pitching, it really helped them understand that when you have a pitcher throwing 40, you can wait a lot longer than when a pitcher is throwing 55. This seems like an obvious concept, but they needed to see and experience that. And, you know, I'm sure there's an element of fear in seeing fast pitching. Seeing it off a machine first is going to get them used to it, even if it's not a perfect simulation.
In short, most of our girls had NEVER faced anything fast. And our pitchers weren't capable of properly simulating. When they would face the occasional fast pitcher, most of them just had no idea how to adjust. They didn't understand the concept of "start earlier." They didn't realize they had to start their swing before the pitch was thrown (and before they decided if they were going to swing).
So the machine helped with that a lot. Even though it's not a perfect tool, I would start at what I considered the average speed we faced. Then I'd crank it up. And I would tell them I was cranking it up. I think it was important to tell them the speed was increasing or decreasing because my goal was not to trick or surprise them. I was teaching them timing. I'd even let them stand in for a pitch or two and not worry about swinging. Just get in there and see and learn to judge the speed.
For newer players who just haven't seen a ton of live pitching, it really helped them understand that when you have a pitcher throwing 40, you can wait a lot longer than when a pitcher is throwing 55. This seems like an obvious concept, but they needed to see and experience that. And, you know, I'm sure there's an element of fear in seeing fast pitching. Seeing it off a machine first is going to get them used to it, even if it's not a perfect simulation.
I have given up on the anomaly fast pitcher, defense needs to show up.
1 pitcher we faced tried out for nationals an age group up, she struck out our 1st 3 batters in 10 pitches. That is not fair.
DD fouled a ball off though before she struck out.
1 pitcher we faced tried out for nationals an age group up, she struck out our 1st 3 batters in 10 pitches. That is not fair.
DD fouled a ball off though before she struck out.
- Dec 11, 2010
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Edited to remove school names: 3 Big 10, one SEC, one Missouri Valley. Most were 3 wheel machines. She went to a couple others 3-4 years ago that were not recruiting camps and they used machines too.
My older dd is home from school and she wants all front toss&live because they use machine several times a week at school and she feels like she gets plenty of it. I threw bp to four players today and as usual I didn’t use my machine. I use it sparingly but I do use it.
I’m really not trying to argue, I’m just saying it’s a small but important part of my plan. Our experiences are actually quite different if you are not seeing them used in camps. Especially indoor camps.
It also seems to me that a frequent poster whose dd played in the SEC made some pretty forceful statements in a recent thread about machines that machines are used pretty much everywhere as far as he has seen.
