CT POST 8-9-03

ProBatter Hits the Right Mark
Video pitching system improves major leaguers', amateurs' swings

WHAT: Pro Batter Sports develops state-of-the-art video pitching systems for major league baseball teams and training centers all over the country. The privately owned company started out in 1998 as part of publishing company Kent Communications; it became its own company in 1999. ProBatter has six local employees as well as representatives throughout the country, has an office and showroom demonstrating the system on Woodmont Road in Milford. For more information call 874-2500 or visit its Web site at www.probatter.com

INNOVATIVE: Greg Battersby, the owner and inventor of the ProBatter Sports system, has recently received his seventh patent from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for one of the features of the new ProBatter video pitching simulator. Battersby said his idea for a different kind of batting machine developed over time from coaching his children's baseball teams. "I would work with my kids in the back yard and notice they were hitting the same kind of pitch over and over," he said. Battersby said the need for a better, more realistic machine was obvious. In addition to owning ProBatter Sports, Battersby is a practicing patent lawyer. The process, of getting a patent was "very familiar," he said.

AHEAD OF THE GAME: ProBatter Sports provides the most advanced training tool in the industry, according to Kevin Mahoney, vice-president and general manager. "[The machine] can be used from the amateur level all the way up to the professional [level]," said Mahoney. According to Mahoney, the ProBatter simulator combines a cutting-edge computerized pitching machine with a high quality, life-sized video screen providing extremely real game-like conditions for the batter. The company sells machines for baseball and softball pitching, as well as a kit to convert some pitching machines into video machines. Mahoney said the system throws at nine different speeds of more than 100 mph and has seven different pitching options, including fastballs, curves, sliders, splitters, cutters, changeups and screwballs. "Four major league teams, the Chicago White Sox, the New York Mets, the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox currently use the ProBatter pitching simulator in their training facilities," Mahoney said.

SPEEDY GROWTH: "[In the past three years], we've sold around 60 units total between major league and training facility [clients]," Mahoney said. The pitching machine costs approximately $75,000 and can also be leased, according to Mahoney. "It sounds like a lot [to the average person] but it is actually not much for a major league team to spend," Mahoney said. In addition, ProBatter makes similar, less advanced models that cost between $20,000 and $45,000. "We are very optimistic. For years we sold through the phones; now we have national sales reps that give us a lot of exposure," said Mahoney.

NO COMPETITION: According to Mahoney, the ProBatter system is the only one of its kind on the market. The machine is so accurate that it replicates the distance between the batter and the exact position where the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. "There is nothing else like it. It is far and away the most realistic tool out there," Mahoney said.

EMILY DONOFRIO