Literature - Easy Rider
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A perfect idea: an automated baseball practice machine that is easy to handle and is operated by an ingenious programmable software system. For more than four years, engineers at FungoMan, Inc. have researched and developed the most efficient and portable automated practice machine seen in baseball.
The FM-150 features a 300-ball capacity with speeds over 100 mph. Leading-edge technology has been introduced to control the motion and speed of the throwing head, along with control advances in the exclusive FungoMan ball-feeding system, to ensure perfectly placed baseballs that fire every three seconds with distances over 450 ft.
Utilities: Easy to use with fingertip control. Ease of use and convenience are a big deal to every coach and player, so FungoMan made sure that every FM-150 is easily portable and fits through any standard-sized door. FungoMan is lightweight and features large tires that allow for easy rolling in any practice setting. More interesting is the 300-ball capacity that each FM-150 provides enabling coaches to easily move right into another drill quickly without reloading balls and moving the machine around. FungoMan understands that the more convenient it is to coach, the more enjoyable each practice experience will be for the players. The FungoMan FM-150 was developed to suit the unique needs of both coaches and players, where every minute of practicing and duplicating a game environment is important.
The heart of the product is the "Coach-Friendly" Windows® operating system. The FungoMan FM-150 includes a color touchscreen pocket pc with wireless remote control capabilities. The fielding and pitching modes offer an unlimited number of balls per routine (limited only by storage disk capacity).
The unique capabilities of the FM-150 feature programmable routines that allow the user to quickly call up previously designed practice drills. Better yet, the board memory card has upgradable storage capacity.
The bottom line: Creating optimal practices benefits both coaches and players. Ground balls, fly balls, line drives with varying top spin or backspin can now be positioned on the field wherever a coach desires.
FungoMan Quality Spotlight: Mike Brumley, Texas Rangers’ Minor League Coordinator
"A machine like this could be worth its weight in gold.” When FungoMan’s Romy Cucjen originally contacted the Texas Rangers about the new FM-150, he was given 10 minutes to prove the benefit of FungoMan to a professional baseball team. Mike Brumley, the Texas Rangers’ Minor League Coordinator, was uncertain as to what this "contraption" might do. A 45-minute live demonstration at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers’ changed Brumley's mind. "There are no limits as to what you can use FungoMan for," Brumley said. Cucjen challenged Brumley to put the machine to a test. Brumley positioned eight players and programmed the machine for popflies. Brumley said "The machine proved that a fungo hitter can’t duplicate fly-balls in the short amount of time FungoMan did.
The machine duplicated the same fly-ball for eight players in 10 seconds; it amazed me." The Texas Rangers agreed after the initial field test that FungoMan also would have tremendous benefits for colleges where staff is limited and practice time is at a premium. Of course, Brumley agrees there’s always a place for fungoes, but because of the FM-150’s exact placement and ease of use, it’s hard to deny that the FungoMan will change the way coaches conduct practice.
