Pitching machines are the Devil. If you have to hire someone to come throw live arm bp do it. Take the money you would have spent on the machine and hire some former players to come throw bp if you can not. Hit live off your pitchers as much as possible. Have your coaches throw bp and throw it yourself. One of the most critical components of hitting is the timing process. Pitching machines kill the timing process and create bad habits.
Watch a college game. Where do they take bp from on the field? How far are the coaches from the players in the cage when they hit? How far are the coaches from the hitters when they hit on the field? They are working on timing and the stroke. The distance doesn't matter. The coach is throwing slower from a shorter distance. And there is nothing wrong with mixing in some balls during bp. Pitching machines throw strike after strike if set up properly. They throw the same speed. They throw to almost the same location pitch after pitch. They offer no realistic timing sequence for the hitter.
They screw up hitters big time. For goodness sake get rid of the pitching machines. Watch a ML hitting workout. Watch a college hitting work out. There are no pitching machines to be found. I wonder why? You will see hitters completely change their approach and timing in order to adjust to the machine to have success. When do I load? And the coach is just dropping balls in a tube and out pops the baseball. From the same location every time. When does the hitter start the timing process? How is it anything like reality for the hitter? Live arm bp. Hitting live off your pitchers. Scrap the pitching machine and help your hitters out. They will thank you for it.