July 9, 2009
FungoMan invention is a hit
By Justin Tison
shreveportsports@gannett.com
As long as young people have been playing baseball there have been coaches who hit baseballs, called fungoes, to players in an effort to teach them the basics of fielding. Those same coaches are also known for standing on the pitcher’s mound lobbing balls to players, with or without the aid of a pitching machine, to perfect their batting technique.
The idea of a machine that would allow a baseball player the ability to practice both hitting and fielding with a level of accuracy that no coach or standard pitching machine could duplicate seemed impractical, if not impossible just a few years ago.
Today, thanks to Romy Cucjen — a former Shreveport Captain, Evangel Christian Academy head baseball coach and president of FungoMan, LLC — that machine has not only become a possibility, it is a reality for more than 200 teams and their players across the country.
The FungoMan Automated Baseball Practice Machine is the brainchild of Cucjen and Denny Duron, chancellor of Evangel Christian Academy. Cucjen said Duron approached him seven years ago looking for a machine that would allow his son, current Spokane Indians shortstop Denny Rodney Duron, to practice his fielding and hitting by himself.
“(Denny) came to me and asked me where was the machine that will throw balls automatically and can run by itself,” Cucjen said. “I told him that machine doesn’t exist.”
Cut to seven years and five prototypes later, the FungoMan is being used by six major league teams and 30 college programs plus numerous high school programs according to Cucjen. The San Diego Padres, the Texas Rangers, the Los Angeles Angels, the University of Texas, LSU and LSUS are just a few of the teams around the country and in the area that use the baseball practice machine.
The Texas Rangers were actually the first customers for the FungoMan, which, according to Cucjen, allowed them to gain a lot of insight into how the machine would handle heat, dirt and the various extreme conditions it might face in the real world since they hold spring practice in Arizona.
The FungoMan is not something that baseball teams necessarily think they need because, as Cucjen said, there has never been anything like it before in baseball.
“From the beginning it was just showing people and getting it out there. We have had to create a market for it because people have never used a machine in this capacity,” Cucjen said. “There’s pitching machines but never has there been an automated baseball practice machine that can do all that this can do and do it effectively.”
The FungoMan is more than just a pitching machine. It is capable of producing fly balls, line drives, ground balls and coaches can even put top or back spin on any ball. The machine is capable of hitting specific locations on the field with accuracy and consistency. It also converts into a regular pitching machine with the additional capability of being able to pitch any number of different types of balls including a fastball or a curveball.
“Inevitably, if I’m hitting fungoes and we’re doing the one-step dive drill, you’re going to have the one roll over and (the fielder) will get lazy because that wasn’t the ball we were working on,” Arizona Diamondbacks field coordinator Jack Howell said. “I can set this thing up and we’re doing one-step dive with every ball and they’re having to perform every time. That gets into the quality versus quantity. I can go out and do 10 perfect balls and they give me the quality drill and we’re outta there.
“If I’ve got a fungo and I’m working one-step dive, I’ve got to hit 25 to 50 to get the 10.”
The FungoMan is fully programmable to fit any coach’s practice regime and it comes with several preprogrammed drills and routines.
Efficiency for coaches and teams is the number one goal for Cucjen with the FungoMan. He loves the idea that since it is wirelessly operated it gives coaches the freedom to walk around the field and instruct players while, at the same time, being able to effectively teach the basic techniques of fielding and hitting. No longer are coaches required to coach from behind a pitching machine or at the plate but can walk among the players while they are simulating real game situations.
“This is not about a machine, this is about people,” Cucjen said. “I coached for a long time and I know as a coach you want to be efficient and run a great practice and not take all day doing it. The benefit of this machine is that even though it does some amazing things, you can do it really efficiently and easily.”
——————————————————————————–