FungoMan LLC Introduces First Automated Baseball Practice Machine to Japanese Professional Baseball Teams
American developers and Japanese businessman collaborate to promote advanced baseball coaching methods.
SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA – February 26, 2007: Romy Cucjen, president of FungoMan LLC (https://fungoman.com), and former American and Japanese professional baseball scout, Takashi Ishikawa, today announced the collaboration on the Japanese launch of the FungoMan FM-150, an automated baseball practice machine. It is part of FungoMan’s commitment to promoting the advancement of baseball coaching methods worldwide.
“Japan is a dynamic and vital business and cultural partner of the United States,” Cucjen said. “FungoMan’s commitment to the development of technology for coaching aids, teaching and learning the Japanese baseball culture is an effort to further prepare players worldwide to excel in their sport.”
“Baseball in the United States and Japan shares common values and needs in the world community of professional baseball, college baseball, and various youth leagues,” said Ishikawa. “The creation of the FM-150 automated practice machine will help to expand the basis for broader communication between coaches and players,” added Ishikawa.
Japan has the world’s second-largest group of organized baseball teams, following the United States, and the demand to strengthen practice methodology in Japan continues to increase.
“FungoMan offers players and coaches a high-quality and widely available opportunity to become more efficient in a variety of fielding disciplines and to improve their abilities using twenty-first century technology,” Cucjen said.
Tomotaka Sakaguchi, outfielder with the Orix Buffalos professional baseball team, stated after his first experience on FungoMan that “it was not difficult to adjust catching balls from FungoMan because of the many features that allow each player to control the speed, distance and positioning of each baseball. The biggest advantage of using this machine is that when a fielding coach instructs you by being in the field instead of hitting fungoes from a distance, you have better input on what may improve your game.” He added that “once you have programmed the FM-150 in advance, it can fire hundreds of baseballs to the same place again and again. This is a very smart machine.”
Coaches are impressed with the ingenious wireless remote control and fully programmable baseball practice machine.
Hideya Matsuyama, outfield coach for the Buffalo Orix, said, “Sometimes, it’s better to get a fungo by a fielding coach; however, I feel very comfortable with coaching players behind and/or close to them while they get groundballs and fly balls by using the wireless hand-held remote control. This is a perfect machine for training young players on fundamentals.”
“This initiative represents an important direction for our company and the Japanese baseball community by adding capabilities to every coach and players’ practice regimen,” states Cucjen. “The machine eliminates most traditional coaching from behind the machine, or searching for a way to avoid popping a ball up or hitting ‘one over there.’ FungoMan allows all coaches the freedom to communicate and instruct, simulate previously played games, have multiple players included in one drill or create their own drills and situations specific to their teams’ needs.”
The driving force at FungoMan is meticulous attention to product innovation based on modern coaching needs.
FungoMan, LLC provides automated technology coaching solutions to control the motion and speed of the throwing head. A revolutionary ball-feeding system ensures consistently placed baseballs that can fire every three seconds with speeds over 100 mph.
Zero-defect manufacturing processes at FungoMan, LLC demand intensive employee training and comprehensive product testing procedures, rigorous rating standards, and an overall commitment to quality. These corporate values have built a reputation for exceptionally flexible, effective and innovative products for coaches and players as well. The company’s Automated Baseball Practice Machine is a suite of high-performance, highly reliable, interoperable software components and hardware designed for applications to aid coaches to run “game-like” practices while remaining on the field with each player.
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, investors have fueled the development of this technology, which will benefit multiple sports applications.
Company headquarters are in Shreveport, Louisiana.
This press release is available in Japanese : 
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