How To Build A Pitching Machine

If you are an avid baseball player, you may want to learn how to build a pitching machine.  This will be a great tool whenever you want to work on your batting technique but don’t have a pitcher available to help you.

In order to build a pitching machine you will need:

• A power drill
• Two 8-inch-long pieces of axle
• 2 wheelbarrow tires
• 4 nuts with lock washers
• Four 6-inch-long 2x2's
• 2 feet of 3-inch flexible plumbers drain hose

1. Screw the 2 pieces of 6-inch-long 2x2’s into the upper corners of the plywood.  Place 2 wood screws through them, vertical to the 2x6’s that you used to build a pitching machine.
2. Lay the 3-foot long 2x6 across the top of your upright 2x6’s.  Use wood screws to screw them into place on your pitching machine.
3. Place the 4 tire jacks underneath of the coffee table legs.  Raise the jacks on your pitching machine to waist height.  Use your carpenter’s level in order to make sure that the pitching machine table is level.  Place this frame and your 2x6 frame on the table.
4. Use an electric drill to put 2 holes in your 3-foot 2x6.  Make sure that these holes are a little bigger than the diameter of your axles.  They should be 11 inches apart from one another.  Now thread your nut and lock washer up your axle.  Use an additional lock washer and nut to hold them into place.  You will need to tighten both of them around your wheel hub.
5. Place 2 wheelbarrow tires beneath the holes in your pitching machine.  Screw the 2x2 pieces to the sides of the 2x6, on whichever side the axle rises out of the board from. Make sure that the plumbing drain hose is centered between the 2 wheelbarrow tires and that it is screwed into the plywood.  The drills on your pitching machine should also be facing one another so that whenever you turn your pitching machine on they will rotate the wheelbarrow’s wheels at the same speed but in opposite directions.
6. Put a baseball down the drain hose in your pitching machine and watch as it is pitched.  Now you are ready to begin using your pitching machine.

Now you will be able to save money when you build a pitching machine instead of purchasing one.  This is because such machines are expensive but you know how to make your own.  So, grab some power tools and go for it.