FungoMan Inc. Automated Baseball Practice Machine Looks Small on the Outside, Delivers Big Time Opportunities at the American Baseball Coaches Association Trade Show.
Practice machine empowers coaches and players to maximize practice time.
CHICAGO, Illinois — January 9, 2006 — The all new FungoMan automated baseball practice machine was unveiled at the ABCA’s trade show in Chicago, Illinois January 4, 2006. Romy Cucjen, president of the Shreveport, Louisiana based company FungoMan Inc, emphasized FungoMan’s innovative practice machine will provide baseball coaches with the “freedom to coach”– with greater training repetitions for their organizations. Freedom to coach, freedom to practice.
Through the use of a wireless remote control with a range of 400 feet, the portable machine holds up to 300 baseballs, can be rolled easily by one person from a storage area directly to home plate, the pitching mound, or any other position on the field. After plugging the machine into a standard 110 volt outlet, a coach or player can call up pre – programmed routines using an intuitive touch screen and begin working out on the most efficient, portable, and advanced baseball practice machine seen in baseball. An individual player can walk up to the machine, call up a routine, take the wireless remote control to his position, and control the time between balls, number of times to repeat the routine, as well as full start, pause, restart, and stop functions. The machine also offers a full-featured pitching mode that can program and throw fastballs, curveballs, and change ups to 21 positions in and around the strike zone. The machine also can be scaled down to throw soft toss, a drill commonly used by hitters with a coach.
Developed by coaches for coaches.
“Our goal is to manufacture machines that will empower coaches and players to be the best they can be,” stated Cucjen. “A coach’s creativity and ability to maximize practice time will drive this machine’s usefulness,” he added.
A wide range of practice applications are driven by intelligent microprocessors that control the motion and speed of the throwing head, while a revolutionary ball feeding system makes sure that one of the 300 baseballs the machine can hold will be perfectly placed for firing in 2.4 seconds. Speeds of 125 mph for 450 foot fly balls with 11 second hang times, to 2 mph bunts that trickle out in front of home plate can be programmed into the machine and fired every 3.5 seconds.
Field tested by professionals for true customer orientation.
The machine was introduced to the Texas Rangers Major League coaching staff and subsequently demonstrated at Ameriquest Field, in Arlington, TX in the summer of 2005. Don Wakamatsu, bench coach for the Rangers, was impressed enough to invite Minor league coordinator Mike Brumley, and his staff to view the machine at a subsequent demonstration. After seeing the capabilities of the machine, Brumley invited the FungoMan staff and machine to the Arizona Instructional League, outside of Phoenix, AZ. The machine was used by the Ranger’s top 52 prospects for 3 days in drills ranging from ground balls and fly balls, to Outfield situational reaction drills that helped infielders and outfielders make reads and quick decisions as to where they should align and position themselves for cutoffs and relays. After putting the machine through the rigors of a professional workout, Tim Ireland, minor league outfield instructor for the Rangers, said simply ”– this machine will revolutionize baseball practice.”
Cultivating a team: Enabling coaches to coach.
Youth league players can also use this machine simply by changing the field size in the machine setup mode. Denny Duron, co-founder of FungoMan stated, “There is no reason why a player or team at any level cannot benefit greatly by having a FungoMan Automated Baseball Practice Machine.
We’ve strived for simplicity, portability, durability, and functionality. I believe we achieved our goals with this machine,” Duron added.
When asked if coaches should fear being replaced by the FungoMan, Inc. technology, Cucjen states, “Coaches will now have a tool that will help prepare their team with quality repetitions and simulated situations. Head coaches will now be able to free up their assistants to be better instructors, coaches, and recruiters.”
About FungoMan Inc.
Romy Cucjen, president of the Shreveport, LA based company, is a former professional baseball player and high school baseball coach. He and co-inventor, former professional football player Denny Duron, envisioned what a baseball practice machine “should do” in May of 2002.
In May of 2004 with the start of a new prototype built with 3D engineering and modeling software from the ground up, the company, with the help of businessman Wes Usie, began to develop the technology that will benefit multiple sport applications.