Professional football is the most popular sport in America and has held that undisputed title since the early 1970s. But don't think for a second that baseball is not in a golden age of its own. Major league baseball, minor league baseball and amateur baseball are all extremely popular and growth oriented. Much of the rebirth can be traced to consistent training and teaching methods that were not employed in previous decades. Many of those advances are in the field of hitting where coaching techniques have allowed players to improve their swings with relative ease, especially compared to their counterparts from past generations. Nothing helps a player's mechanics or confidence more than repeated success during practice and that's just what a pitching machine will allow. While working with a coach who can hand out snippets of advice, a pitching machine consistently throws strikes, allowing a player to make maximum use of the time available for practice. Live pitching has its benefits as well, but a motivated batter who knows he will be getting nothing but strikes will not only find more success at the plate but will come to understand why certain batting techniques are more beneficial than others.
What to Look for
Today's hitting machines come in all shapes and all price ranges, but coaches and players need to consider consistency and reliability more than any other factors when purchasing a pitching machine. The two most common types of pitching machines are the single-wheel and the dual-wheel machines. The single-wheel machine is best suited for players 12 and under. It can produce pitches of up to 60 miles per hour with accuracy and reliability. These machines are usually light and portable and can be transported from one practice session to another. The dual-wheel machine is better for players who are 13 to 15 or older all the way through the professional ranks. These machines can produce breaking pitches (right-handed and left-handed curveballs and sliders) in addition to fastballs of 90-plus miles per hour. While not quite as easily transportable as the single-wheel models, they offer more options and functions on the practice field.
Common Pitfalls
Veteran coaches and players know that a pitching machine is a tool to help a player improve. However, while it can go a long way toward improving a player's confidence in the batter's box, it should not be used as the only form of batting practice. By it's very nature, the pitching machine can repeat the same pitch with the same accuracy consistently. A batter should know that a well-maintained pitching machine will not suddenly start coming inside or brushing back the hitter. That's why it is always important to follow pitching machine work with batting practice against a live pitcher. The fear factor is real and there are many batters who can pound an 83-mile per hour fastball thrown by a machine but can't get close to a 75-mile per hour fastball thrown by a human being. Take the lessons learned while using the patching machine and apply them against a live pitcher regularly for maximum improvement.
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