How to improve your pitching machine

I’m not a gigantic fan of pitching machines mainly because they are so unrealistic to how a ball is going to be pitched to a batter.  Here is a picture that shows the obvious problem.

 

No pitch will ever shoot out of a pitcher’s belly button.  The ball will usually be released above and to the side of the pitcher’s head which is significantly higher then how a normal pitching machine is designed to work.

And that brings me to the most ingenious thing I’ve seen in a long time.  It is shown in these two pictures.

Maybe some of you have seen this before but I had not until I worked at this high school camp in Lansdale, PA.  The coach in this picture (Coach Kevin Harris of North Penn High School and Nor-Gwyn Legion) had custom legs cut to raise the pitching machine to release point level.  A brilliant idea!

Now the pitching machine properly replicates the height of a normal release point for an average high school pitcher.  Obviously, you can cut the legs to whatever height you need depending on the age/size of the players at your level.

A great idea and a great example of someone thinking outside the box to solve a basic problem with pitching machines.