Archive for the ‘Products’ Category

Sometimes LESS is MORE

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

It’s time to talk about the world championship of youth baseball held every August in Williamsport, PA.  Yes, you know, that famous league for people who are not big, broadcast by that network that is not small.  This is about how sometimes less is more. Inevitably during this tourney, a 12 year old will hit 70 on the radar gun and the network will tell you how that translates to a 92 MPH fastball.  The calculation is just a simple adjustment based on the change of distance from 60 feet 6 inches down to 46 feet.  While we always get jazzed up about MPH, it’s not so much the speed of the pitch that is key but how little time you have to swing, about 4 tenths of a second in either of those cases.   Did you ever notice major leaguers taking BP before a game? (See Photo) The BP pitcher usually throws about 60-70 MPH from around 45 feet which simulates the reaction time hitters will need in a game.  It’s a very simple concept of jacking up the difficulty of a task by tweaking scale, like swinging a weighted bat, running sprints with a parachute or how about this one, taking batting practice using a small ball.

The MaxBP mini-wiffle pitching machine is based on the simple concept thathitting a small ball from short distance will develop quick reflexes and improved hand-eye coordination. With release speeds from 15 to 60 MPH (70 on Turbo model) and distances from 10 to 45 feet, the MaxBP can train any player at any level, and does.  We’ve seen 4 year olds hit off soft-toss mode and D1 and pro players use it at top speeds.  We can’t guarantee that every little guy will be able to hit a big guy fastball, that is not the point, but we stand by the idea that if you over-train by tweaking scale, you will inevitably find game conditions easier the more you practice, regardless of playing level.  You don’t need to be Stephen Hawking to figure out that this is an effective training model!

If you wondered why we’re talking about summer championships now, lets just think back to the old joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?….Practice, Practice, Practice.”  Now is the time to practice so give us a call and try out the MaxBP.  We guarantee you’ll love this safe, portable and affordable machine that provides quality pitch after quality pitch.   Go ahead, see if you can hit a 70 mph mini-wiffle at 20 feet…but that’s not the point, is it?

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The 9 key assumptions that lay behind the choices we have made as a company

Friday, January 1st, 2010

  1. Everyone’s resources are limited. Therefore, it’s our responsibility to decide which products and services we can carry that contribute the MOST in terms of potential improvement in the hitter’s skill, per dollar spent. A player could spend $300 on the latest super alloy bat, and use it at team practices and in games. But will that make as much difference over time in that player’s overall skill level as putting that same $300 towards a pitching machine that can give him/her literally thousands of opportunities to perfect their swing?
  2. Repetition is one of the main keys to success, but not the only one. Famous author Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, talks about the 10,000 hour rule.* Paraphrased, it emphasizes that, for the most part, those that we have come to see as gifted in a particular field (The Beatles, Bill Gates, etc.) would be much more accurately described as having become excellent through massive hours of practice rather than through some inborn genius. To a large extent, we believe in this theory, and our selection of tools that can inexpensively and conveniently be used for many hours at a time are a reflection of that.
  3. Mechanically correct swings are the only ones worth repeating. This goes hand in hand with point # 2. Yes, it’s critical that tons of practice hours get logged. But if a batter is practicing a swing that is ineffective (has a hitch, off-balance, etc.) then all that repetition is doing is ingraining bad habits. That’s why our website, MaxBP.com is designed to supplement the tools we sell, with the kind of simple, straightforward drills and tips that will ensure that every hour you spend whacking balls is moving you closer to a repeatable perfect swing and ideal hand-eye coordination.
  4. Harder task mastered = Greater skill acquisition. There’s a reason why our flagship product, the MaxBP pitching machine, throws balls the size of a golf ball. Why didn’t we have it throw balls that are the same size as the baseball or softball you’ll be hitting in games? 2 reasons: there is both a physical AND a psychological benefit to mastering a task that is MORE difficult than the one you will ultimately be faced with in competition. It’s a simple matter of incredibly enhanced CONCENTRATION. If you can become excellent at hitting a small ball with a small bat, it stands to reason that you will be even more proficient at hitting a larger ball with a larger bat. It’s common sense that proves true in experience. And the extra bonus is that psychologically, you gain confidence in competition, knowing that you will be asked to perform a task that is significantly easier than the one you did in your backyard yesterday. Confidence is a large part of athletic success, and knowing that the task ahead will be easier than what you are used to, is a great way to insure that confidence will be your constant companion.
  5. Efficiency is everything. Have you seen the statistics that show that the amount of actual action that takes place in a football or baseball game, is really just 5 or 10 minutes in the whole 3 hour affair? And if you’re a batter, getting 4 chances per game…you’re having to make the most of just a few SECONDS per game. Similarly, most practice sessions are equally inefficient. If you’re on the field with your team, taking BP, how many swings do you get to take in a 2 hour practice? 20? 30? At best, that’s 1 swing for every 4 minutes on the field. Compare that to MaxBP. If it’s set to throw a pitch every 6 seconds, you’re getting 10 swings a minute. A twenty minute session will get you 200 pitches! Of course, the only ones that matter are the strikes (see point #6) We define efficiency in terms of amount of quality practice per hour or per dollar. Having your dad or your best friend throw you BP is great, but it’s not the most efficient option if they’re only around once a week. MaxBP is ready when you are, every day for as long as you want to take hacks.
  6. Flexibility. Do you only have 20 minutes available today to hit? No problem. MaxBP sets up in less than 2 minutes. Not going to have time to get to the field today before dark? Just pop MaxBP out of the trunk and hit in the parking lot at school, at work, or at the grocery store down the street from home. The bottom line is, MaxBP is ready when you are, almost anyWHERE you are. It’s powered for hours by a battery, needs little space, and the balls don’t break anything if you happen to hit them off a window or car door. For many baseball diehards, MaxBP goes with them everywhere, just like their glove.
  7. Quality / Durability. This actually falls in line as part of efficiency. That’s because a machine that is cheaply made either breaks down frequently, or fails to throw a high percentage of strikes. Either of those issues drastically reduces efficiency (not to mention the fact that they’re both extremely frustrating). We’ve evaluated dozens of options over the years. Some are great quality, but at great expense or require huge tracts of land. Some are cheap, but made poorly. The MaxBP is the best combination we’ve ever seen of being cost-efficient, convenient AND durable/consistent.
  8. Customer Service. And on those few occasions where the MaxBP doesn’t perform up to standards? We’re committed to making it right as quickly as possible. We want every customer to be a customer for life. We want Little Leaguers still coming to our website for supplies when they’re in high school and college. And the best way to insure that happens is to do whatever is necessary to keep every customer happy.
  9. Level playing field. Add up all the aspects of our philosophy, and one big picture emerges: All of us here at MaxBP love baseball. In fact, we all still play. We use the machine ourselves every week. And we all wish it had existed back when we were kids! We want to make it as easy and affordable as possible for EVERYONE to have a MaxBP and become a great hitter. MaxBP can be used virtually ANYWHERE- basement, tennis court, small backyard, etc. Should a kid that lives miles from his friends and has a small backyard have less of a chance of becoming a great hitter than one who lives next door to a baseball field? Should someone who can spend $2000 on a baseball pitching machine be able to improve more than someone who only has a couple hundred dollars? We say no. And our mission is to level the playing field so that the main differentiators between the great hitters and the not-so-great hitters is how much time and effort they want to spend learning about and practicing hitting.

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