Franklin Sports Mlb Crossfire Pro Baseball Batting Trainer No. 14947 by Franklin Sports

Proven to be fun and effective coaching tool. Helps teach tracking and focusing on the ball from release to impact zone. Perfect for baseball or softball players

Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
I looked all over the web for reviews of this before I purchased and couldn't find any. I decided to go ahead and give it a try knowing that Amazon is great at returns if it didn't work well. One question I could never find is how it was powered - well I can tell you, it's with 4 "C" batteries. So it can be taken/set up anywhere. My main purpose for the machine was to give my 7 year old (who isn't very athletic) some practice at baseball before the season starts. I like that the balls are foam and he's not scared of them coming at him - giving him confidence to try a real ball. I also wanted something that his athletic 9 year old brother could use and we wouldn't have to worry about the 7 year old getting smashed with a real baseball. The 9 year old also enjoys this machine. Having the smaller than normal baseball makes him think more about hitting the smaller target. So I think it will help him as well. It only throws the ball about 15' and the balls are foam, so it's not the same arc as the regular pitching machine they will use in their leagues with regular size balls. The wind will easily blow these foam balls off course. But I have found it's pretty easy to adjust by standing behind the machine and just aiming it left/right based on the wind and where the ball went from the last pitch. After the first two balls (which are always low/off as it builds up pressure), the pitch is fairly consistent. It pitches every about 5 seconds. It would not work well on a very windy day though. I also have mine on gravel, so I'm able to easily adjust the gravel to adjust the pitch up/down. There is a screw that allows you to do that, but it's easier for me to just push it into the gravel more or bring more gravel underneath it. If you were using it on a solid surface, you'd have to use a knob to move the plastic screw to make it go up/down. The whole thing is made of plastic, so I'm not sure how durable it will be in the long run. Only time will tell on that. However, being small & plastic means it's lightweight and easy to toss in the car to take to the park. Overall I'm happy with the purchase and recommend it if you have young baseball players. I think my athletic 9 year old will outgrow it as a baseball tool shortly, but I'm sure he will enjoy it as a toy longer (no need to have someone to pitch to him!)