Pitching Machine Safety

While pitching machines are a proven safe and effective tool for hitting and fundamentals development, there are a few safety precautions to keep in mind. What follows is a summary of simple and safe pitching machine practices we have used in our past experience, but ALWAYS read the manual that came with your machine for full safety and maintenance guidelines.

Batters should always wear the necessary protective
gear when in the cage with a machine or on the field
for grounders or fly balls. Helmets and protective
cups are a must. Do not allow any player into the cage
if they are not wearing an officially sanctioned
batting helmet.

The person feeding a pitching machine should always
stand behind an L-screen or similar barrier and should
wear a helmet themselves as a precaution against
batted balls hitting the ceiling of the cage and
falling down.

If using a pitching machine after rain, or on a dewy
morning, balls will pick up the moisture and can
behave unpredictably on feeding through the pitching
machine. Make sure your hitters are extra vigilant as
a pitched ball may come out of the machine
erratically.

Visually inspect batting cage and L-screen netting
regularly and patch when necessary. A hole in the
netting can quickly lead to accidents. As a part of
this, always use high quality, thick netting material.
In the long run, this will prove safer and more cost
effective than using cheap material in the beginning.

In the batting cage, only two people should be
present at any given time