How Do You Effectively Use Pitching Machines For Batting Practice?
I owned a baseball academy for many years which used pitching machines where batters could work on hitting without the fear of getting hit by the ball. The pitching machines consistently threw strikes and hitters often built confidence by using them. Confidence is always good but I am embarrassed to say that the consistency of the machines may have been detrimental to helping hitters. “Why was that?” you ask. Pitchers are not consistent for the most part, with every pitch being thrown with a different speed and location. The problem is that pitching machines are often very consistent, which is not game like. Hitting the same speed pitches with nearly the same location each time may negatively affect a hitter when they play in games, Rarely are two pitches ever the exact same in a real game. I have seen many hitters’ swings and/or timing become “screwed up” because of hitting pitching machines. Hitting a ball continually with the same speed and pitch location for 10 minutes or more can
