Baseball Pitching Machines

[Greg Cole]

Anyone here owned or used one of the newer 2 wheel style machines? Ones that can "throw" curves, sliders & bring the heat. Specifically like the Atec Casey style? I'd like to get a machine that I'll use for a few years or more, not one that will be grown out of right away.
I am going to be hanging netting in the warehouse at my day job and getting a good machine to have my own batting cage. The stationary pivoting arm style is not a consideration as I'll be using the machine for fielding practice as well.
Any $0.02 would be great.

[Rick Moyer]

Never operated one but was on the "receiving" end of one when in college. Not sure what the make/model was but it was the kind with two rubber(?) wheels that could be adjusted independently to throw curves, etc. This was 30 years ago and it was very impressive to me at the time as we had no such machine in High school. Unfortunately I couldn't hit the 95 mph fastball:o!
i don't know what they cost, but the design seems very good.

[Greg Cole]

Me too Rick, but the one I am leaning towards is light years beyond the old tubless tire machine made by Jugs.
Here's what I was referring to:
http://www.atecsports.com/atec/products.jsp?CONTENT<>cnt_id=10134198673980555&FOLDER<>folder_id=2534374302757365

Given the diversety of the Creek I was hoping someone might see this and chime in.....

[Chuck Saunders]

I am making one similar to the Jugs 2 wheel. I am curious what you see as the major improvements in the ATEC. What are the differences other than the channeled drive wheels? What is the benefit of the channeled drive wheels? I will be the first to admit that I am not up on baseball technology and I welcome any information you can share.

[Greg Cole]

Chuck,
The concave wheels help in accuracy alot from all research I've done. The "Jugs style" wheel machines are a little more particular in having the operator place the balls in the exact spot-orientation evert time.
I hit in a cage recently with the Jugs style 2 wheel machine and wasn't impressed with the control, actually had to hit the deck twice in @ 50 pitches or I'd have eaten a 75 + mph pitch.:eek: Maybe it was the machine being well used or the guy feeding it having fun with me...:confused:
I've never seen this Atec style in use first hand, but am going to look & use a one this weekend.
I have a good metal working skill set and machine shop tools at the day job, but I doubt I'd be able to make one that will have the portability & versatility and all that the Atec style machines have. They're expensive but I'll be using it for many years to come and will be having team batting practices year round, so it'll pay for itself in the long run. Just this year I figure our team put about $500 in batting cage rental, not too mention all the times we've gone that weren't a team practice.

[Chuck Saunders]

Thanks for the pointers. I will concentrate on the ball introduction chute to try and eliminate the unknown variety, though I don't want too much consistency. I think that the ATEC wheels would be hard to duplicate without some way to cast the urethane (I'm guessing) to the hub. The cost of cages can make justification pretty easy.

[Greg Cole]

Just opened my eyes wide enough to see you're in KC as well Chuck.
When I get around to getting the cage set up and machine ready to go, you'll be more than welcome to come up and take a look.

Cheers.

[Chuck Saunders]

I did noy notice that until you mentioned it. I look forward to it.