Franklin Sports MLB Electronic Baseball Pitching Machine - Automatic Youth Pitching Machine with (6) Plastic Baseballs Included -Youth Baseball Pitcher

Put this together last night for my grandson and was pleasantly surprised. It took me a minute to put the rails on as the directions are a little lacking. The pieces are supposed to be lettered but I couldn't find the letters on them but got it together as its fairly obvious how it goes. Get an 8 pack of D batteries when you order this item because if you don't have them on hand, like me, you'll have to wait to test it out. Finally got the batteries(I mean who keeps D batteries on hand any more?????) and tested it out. Worked perfectly! The machine pitched the balls a good 20 feet! I cant wait for my grandson o see it, hes gonna be thrilled. And it'll save my arm since I wont have to pitch to him for an hour!

The media could not be loaded. So far, this seems like a great product for the money. My five-yr-old is pumped to have it. He can load it himself and then go stand wait for the pitches. He’s not hitting a lot of the pitches yet, but that’s the idea. I think it could be valuable for kids a little bit older too if they don’t have access to a machine that can throw real balls. The speed will not challenge older hitters much. I’ve tested it with three different kinds of wiffle balls. The balls that came with it (lighter, no holes) -vs- a slightly thicker ball with holes (bought at Dick’s) -vs- some durable and more flexible Precision Impact balls. The Precision Impact balls were wildly inconsistent (maybe they compress too easily). Of the other two, the original balls that came with it have proved to be the more consistent (small sample size). I did not hold the base of the unit, and recoil was minimal. I was shooting the balls on the most flat trajectory the machine can do. The video was recorded with fresh batteries in a fresh machine, just removed from the shipping box.

I bought this unit to help my 7 and 8 year old become better at tracking the ball. Dollar for dollar you cannot beat this machine, but there are some drawbacks.WHAT IT DOES WELL:• Serves balls from 20~ feet• Adjusts for pitch angle, can be propped up to toss pop flies• Develops reaction time from the 7 second pitch timerWHAT IT DOES POORLY:• DRINKS BATTERIES. I got a set of rechargeable D cell batteries and they have to be recharged after every session or there is a noticeable lack of power in the pitches• The balls wear quickly and fly unevenly with only about 100 reps. Balls also do not have red seams so it is hard to see any rotation on the ball• The feed mechanism is a little janky and does not always have enough gravity to feed the next ballOverall this is a great entry level training tool - by far the best one I have bought so far. If your kids are new to the game, or just need something to help them get over fear of the ball flying at them, this is a good unit. For what its worth, both my kids have been clocked in the face by this machine and shrugged it off after the initial shock, which is worth its weight in gold for a developing player

The machine works sometimes. The pitches are never the same. Some are high some are low some are inside and some are outside. Not great but it works.

My Grandson aged 7 loves this gift! He uses it to learn to catch the ball and hit. I had shoulder surgery so wasn’t able to pitch to him. It has good power. It does go through batteries so also purchased some rechargeable batteries.

Bought this item as a present for a 8 year old starting to get into baseball. Unfortunately, he was disappointed and so was I.Pros: I always try to find a bright side to things but unfortunately this item was not as described. The only easy part was it was easy to assemble, did not even have to read instructions. Needed 4 D batteries and then started to slowly run.Cons: First of all, the item came very jumbled in the box. No packaging and just the amazon package which caused all the pieces to be thrown around and bent as seen in the picture above. The item has very clearly been USED. The MLB stickers had been peeled off and stuck back on, the plastic was starting to peel, the battery compartment came half off with one of the screws not even tightened. The red light does not work as described and only is on when there are no balls in the spiral. I would say 3/10 of the pitches are able to be hit when it is at the highest incline. The first 2 pitches whenever you start the machine up come out very slow and low. Takes a while for the gears to run and as soon as it does it is out of balls and the wheels shut off which only leads to my son hitting it maybe three times before having to gather all the balls up and restart the process.I did get this item for $28 when I think it is listed at $50 but I expected the item to be brand new when it was clearly not. Very upset but will keep because I let my son open it out of the box so I can not rip away his birthday present now. He is entertained but I am very disappointed with the quality of the purchase. If I had to do it again I would not buy this item. SAVE YOUR MONEY.