About Us
ProBatter Sports, LLC was established in 1999, originally as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kent Communications, Ltd., a diversified publishing and communications company that started in 1982. In 2000, ProBatter was spun off as a separate entity as a result of private placement financing.
Devoted to establishing the ProBatter pitching systems as the “ultimate baseball training device,” ProBatter brought together a dynamic team of talented engineers, software developers, and video specialists along with a number of former professional and collegiate baseball players to ensure that the ProBatter system was truly state of the art. These individuals believed that there had to be a better way to teach and practice hitting. They observed that conventional pitching machines had a number of serious drawbacks, most notably:
All of the above factors are critical in developing and refining advanced hitting skills, and the ProBatter team was convinced that an advanced, automated pitching system could be developed by applying new concepts and state-of-the-art technology. The ProBatter team introduced the first video pitching simulator at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in 1999. Most observers at that meeting agreed that it was the most revolutionary pitching machine system ever developed.
Over the years, the ProBatter product line has substantially expanded since its inception with products such as the ProBatter II retrofit kit for commercial batting cages, ProBatter Professional Softball system, a Tunnels to Go portable batting cage product, and a host of ancillary products including a seamed pitching machine ball that is manufactured by Baden Sports under license from ProBatter.
In 2006, ProBatter introduced the second generation of its video pitching simulator–the PX2 simulator. The PX2 then become the industry standard for video pitching simulators for both baseball and softball.
ProBatter Sports expanded into the cricket market in 2010, installing the cricket version of the PX2 machine with the British and Australian National Cricket teams and at the International Cricket Council Training Center in Dubai, UAE.
Recognizing that hitting is only one part of the game and that the training of pitchers is equally important, ProBatter developed and introduced a pitcher training product called Strike Out Pro which allows a pitcher to pitch a simulated game against images of real batters report on their effectiveness. A beta version of the unit was introduced at the ABCA show in 2017 and received the coveted voted Best of Show award.
ProBatter has worked with Hittrax and Rapsodo to integrate their tracking systems as part of both the ProBatter video pitching simulators and Strike Out Pro to provide the analytics that the sports community is looking for in order to properly assess hitters and pitchers.
In 2019, ProBatter introduce the third generation of its line of video pitching simulators, the PX3 video pitching simulator. By incorporating state-of-the-art technology and ProBatter’s decades of experience, the PX3 is able to duplicate virtually all of the features of the venerable PX2 unit at a significantly lower price point. Softball, cricket and, “combo” versions of the PX3 are available as will integration with Rapsodo and Hittrax systems. The PX3 was the winner of the Best of Show award at the ABCA show in 2019.
ProBatter introduced its first non-video pitching machine, the Challenger, in 2020 Using the same pitch head as the PX3 machine and a machine-mounted tablet touchscreen controller, it can be used both indoors and outdoors. A barrel feeder and remote kiosk controller are options. Best of all, the Challenger can be subsequently upgraded to the PX3 by the addition of the video components.
Research and development are always at the center of ProBatter Sports. Currently on the drawing board is the ProFielder which can be used by coaches for infield and outfield practice and a “Smart Cage” that integrates the PX3 along with a ball tracking device and display, and a video recording system.
For the past 20 years, ProBatter has been the industry leader in technology and innovation in the pitching machine market.