re: Video: 97 mph fastball from umpire's POV

Well first of all not all machines use arms and not all balls in cages have laces. We used to have a Pro Batter machine that could throw fastballs, sliders, curves etc. It had a video screen and you saw a video of a pitcher. It had two spinning wheels that moved around so or could throw curves and sliders and the ball was always within 2 inches of where you programmed of to be. I would program it to throw 95mph fastballs based on 60 feet and the plate was only 40 feet away so or came in WAY faster but after a few days of practice I could hit 10 out of 10 almost everytime. You could barely see the ball but I just knew when to start my swing and it impressed the shite out of everyone!

Here is a link to a video on the ProBatter machines