SPC Personal Pitcher Pro Mini Polyball Pitching Machine w/ 24 Balls, 4 Hour Battery, & Windup Indicator Light

by Personal Pitcher

Product Features

• Develops batspeed, hand-eye coordination
• 4 hour re chargeable battery
• 100 ball capacity
• Use indoors or outdoors, all year long

Product Description

The Personal Pitcher Pro from SPC is perfect for pre-game warm-up, hitting stations and extended private batting practice. The Personal Pitcher is safe to use indoors or outside and will help players at any level develop muscle memory, batspeed and hand-eye coordination. Accurate Quad speed capability for youth through high school ages, also throws left and right hand curve balls with consistent location for Pitch Isolation Training.

Product Details

• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• ASIN: B001P7ZA3O
• Item model number: Pro
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,932 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)
  • #15 in Sports & Outdoors > Team Sports > Baseball > Training Equipment > Pitching Machines

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works well, but know its limitations, August 23, 2007

By 

J. A. Zajac - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

I purchased this for my daughter who plays fastpitch softball. Hitting a 65 MPH breaking ball from 40 feet is very difficult.

How I use it:

1. Always set it to the maximum speed: 55 MPH. (It may be 55 MPH as the ball exits the unit, but it quickly slows down, especially outside. That said, it still works very well).

2. Play with the distance. 25 feet seems to work for basic batting practice. 20 feet is tough but is hittable. The shorter distance makes the reaction time quicker simulating a faster pitch. Don't even think about standing more than 30 feet away. (55 MPH at 20 feet seems to equate to a real world 60-70 MPH fastball at 40 feet, although mathematically it doesn't. There is a lot of wind resistance on the wiffle ball causing it to really slow down after exiting the machine.)

3. This forces the hitter to watch the ball, not watch the pitcher's arm. Too many hitters watch the arm and get fooled by a change-up. This forces an explosive swing, not a lazy roundhouse swing.

4. I don't use the automatic ball feeder (but it does work well). My daughter sees my arm in the air, and then I feed the ball.

5. You must use a camera tripod. I had an old one at home that works fine.

6. It is accurate enough to consistently pitch high outside balls or low inside balls. It also varies more than a regular pitching machine (especialy on windy days) which I think gives the batter a real sense of facing a pitcher. Batting machines are too repeatable, and the hitter gets in a groove. It's impossible to get in a groove with this machine.

7. This is also an excellent machine for bunting practice.

8. If you are going to buy new golf wiffle balls, make sure they are the EXACT size. Some balls are too small and are too loose for the rollers.

9. The battery works fine. I don't really know how long it lasts--at least 45 minutes of continuous use.

10. I have a duffle bag with the pitching machine, a plastic bucket with golf balls, a calibrated rope, a rubber home plate, an extension cord, and a tripod.

11. It's great to use in the back yard or before a game. When we roadtrip and are staying at a hotel, we'll find a grassy area and warm up before the game. All you need is about 75 ft of space. It's easier to find the balls if the grass is short.


Cons:

1. The plug on the transformer to the unit is cheesey. The unit vibrates, the plug loosens causing sparks and then the connection corrodes, then it can't charge the battery or run. I had to hard wire the whole thing. I called the company, but they could care less.

2. I wish it had an LED indicating that it was charging when it was plugged in. You have no way of knowing if the plug is firmly attached or if it is just running off the battery.

3. Once in a while the machine shoots duds into the ground. Not really a big deal.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Personal pitcher, April 18, 2009

By 

Michael A. Fantozzi - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SPC Personal Pitcher Pro Mini Polyball Pitching Machine w/ 24 Balls, 4 Hour Battery, & Windup Indicator Light (Misc.)

The personal pitcher I bought new from the manufacturer is the pro model and it is not very consistent. If it is windy forget about using it outside. You must use quality heavy balls like eastons to work good. The auto feed works when it wants to so I manual feed it most of the time . .This unit makes me scared to touch anything inside because it is flimsy and has crude soldering on the electronic circuit board. It looks like some kids electronic project! I handle this unit like it's made of glass. My son and I take it outside for a little while and end up abandoning it not long after we start using it because of inconsistent pitches. It is not good for hitting practice to chase balls all over short,inside, outside, up and down. I get much better results sitting on a pale about 15-20 feet away hand throwing the plastic golf balls hard towards my son.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Works well when it works, March 16, 2009

By 

Club Coach (SoCal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SPC Personal Pitcher Pro Mini Polyball Pitching Machine w/ 24 Balls, 4 Hour Battery, & Windup Indicator Light (Misc.)

I have owned 4 of the personal pitchers from one of the first to now owning two of the improved pro models. They are inexpensive and when it works, it works well. My models never held a charge so it always had to be plugged in making portability an issue. Balls tend to get stuck in the shoot which makes using by yourself difficult as you need someone to constantly monitor the ball feeding.

Again, good machine for price but could use improvement.