Not using pitching machine in practice?

[StacieM]

I do not use a pitching machine for anything except *maybe* bunt practice.

 

[Ken Krause]

I use a pitching machine as a change of pace. It gives the girls an opportunity to track a fast pitch over a longer distance. I use it for the Barry Bonds drill. I use it to prep high school players for tryouts because that's what most of the high schools use.

I also do a lot of live pitching from short distance (behind a screen) and tee work. That's mostly what I do, but after a while the girls get pretty grooved to what I can do. Putting them on the machine gets them out of that rut and makes them adjust.

I am always fascinated when I hear that pitching machines are bad because they throw the ball to the same location. I'd love to see that machine. Mine shoots balls all over the place, some strikes, some not. Maybe because I use seamed balls instead of dimpled balls, or because the machine is pretty old and the tire is pretty worn.

 

[livingontheroad]

few use pitching machines, or even much live pitching for that matter. Short "soft-toss" (and not-so-soft) from behind screen is the bulk of the way to go. You pitch the ball to them at 30-40 mph from about 12-15 ft away You control the reaction time and the location of the ball. Gets batter used to not being able to deciding to swing until the last possible moment.