I have a toe-tap stride, and it’s hard to time with the machine, so my rhythm gets thrown off, and I swing too late or pull the ball. Regular overhand BP however is no problem. Can I get some tips on how to time the machine better?
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Reps
My son struggled with this for years. Didn’t matter if it was fast or slow, he struggled. He talked with the hitting instructors at Cressey and they changed his stance and load to a more relaxed start and he now crushes machines. He also hits with a ton more power off live pitching (exit velo went from 90 to 100+).
Time the person feeding the machine, who should consistently feed with the same tempo. any delay at that point caused by the machine can be used to simulate change of speeds. my son toe tapped and hitting off the machine was hard until he finally got that everything before foot down is your load and stride (not part of swing) to be always the same tempo, you either start earlier or later depending on pitcher or in this case machine feeder. he had to be on time with his foot planted in order to hit off the machine and be sure his hands didn’t jump the sequence…often coaches think its all about being quick and just randomly stick the balls in the machine to test how quick you can swing… you don’t beat velo with quickness you beat it with timing. unless your load causes issues normally i wouldn’t change to hit off a machine.
tempo is the pace at which you move from start to load to foot strike/plant. timing is when you start.
Palo;
what is your goal in using a "pitching Machine"? When I visited the Seattle Mariners in Spring Training. Edgar Martinez the DH and Ichiro were in the Batting Cages. Edgar had the pitching machine {iron mike] set at 100 mph.
He was "tracking" the ball [not swinging] however Ichiro was swinging and hitting. "True Story"
Bob
When I thought hitters were timing the pitching machine I pulled them out. I wanted hitters reacting to pitches, not timing them.
