Hit Machine Baseball

Wisconsin

Congrats to our 13 U and 14 U Hit Machine Teams for making the pre-season Travel Baseball Rankings! Our 13 U team cracked the rankings for the first time, coming in at #20. After a great season last year, our 14 U team starts off the season ranked #1. Both have great tournament schedules this year, looking forward to a fun and challenging year!

https://www.travelbaseballrankings.com/wisconsin.html

14u Rankings

Hit Machine-Sheboygan
Hitters Navy
Stiks Academy Black
Midwest Halos
Prospects Training Academy-Cardinal
GRB Green-Madison
GRB Green-Milwaukee
JBA Clutch
Hitters White
Richfield Rockets
Bronco Select
GTS

13u Rankings

Bennie Elite
Midwest Halos
STiKS Academy Black
GTS Elite
GRB Rays MKE Black
Oconomowoc Five O's Red
GRB Rays Green
Hitters
West Bend Thunder
Milwaukee Hitmen
Kewaskum Tribe
Muskego Warriors
Muskego Storm
Elmbrook Braves Red
Lannon Stonemen
GRB MKE Sliders
Genoa City Predators
Prospects Training Academy Cardinal (PTA)
Brewstate Baseball
Hit Machine

Wisconsin Up-To-Date Rankings 8u-18u Updated 2/3/2022 FAQs

Congratulations to Hit Machines Levi Mills and Collin Thorne who won the 15U Baseball Express National tournament sponsored by Marucci! Collin and Levi both play for the HM 14 U travel team and were super excited to qualify for this 2-man national event. They won their quarterfinal game last week 14-3 against the Bash Bros from Wyoming, they beat Idaho Power in the semi's 12-2 and won the Championship 13-1 against Go Blue from Michigan. Levi was 10-15 in the championship game with 2 dingers, Collin finished 7-16.

They each will receive a $1,000 college scholarship, a new Marucci bat, $100 gift card to Baseball Express and some Marucci Swag. Great job boys, way to represent the Hit Machine!!

2022 Baseball Express Classic Finals

Collin and Levi playing Live for $1000 scholarship in the HitTrax finals

https://youtu.be/O6F9AshGGHU

2022 Baseball Express Classic Finals #baseballexpressSponsored by Marucci

Awesome job ladies! So happy to see all of your hard work pay off! Excited to have the The Swarm as part of the Hit Machine family!

HitTrax Hitting League Promo

HITTING LEAGUE SIGNUPS!

We are posting sign-ups for our 2022 Hitting leagues powered by Hittrax! Last year was a lot of fun, everyone enjoyed the competition and a little bit of smack talk! We are capping the number of teams at 8, based on inquires / availability about the league, we will hit that number very quickly. Cost is the same $300 per team. You can decide on how many players on your team from 3-6. Also, you can add subs as necessary. Looking to have 2 sessions 9-12 and 13U through HS. Field size and defender ability varies based on age, so the playing field is completely even regardless of age.

Reach out to Shane at [email protected] or 920.917.3826 to reserve your team spot. Each week you get a team/individual stats printout, this will be a 6 week league - then playoffs. Games will be on Thursday or Friday nights, they take 1 hour total. Looking to get started February, 3rd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71y6r2RIj5Y

HitTrax Hitting League Promo HitTrax Hitting League Promo

VELOCITY CLINIC - 8 week program begins January, 23rd

Hit Machine is very pleased to once again have Mike Ruppel leading our velocity program for this year. Mike has worked with various college and high school programs to help develop arm strength and arm stamina.

This is an 8-week program. There are separate sessions for 7/8th grade and high school. Early session is 6:30-7:30, late session is 7:30 - 8:30 PM - all sessions are Sunday nights. Training for the 8 weeks is $175. Last year, on average each participant gained 7 MPH from beginning to end! Those that worked the hardest gained the most.

The kids will be worked hard and developed throughout the camp, each week builds on the previous one. This is the first posting and we only have 2 spots left for each session. Please reach out to Shane at 920.917.3826 or [email protected] to reserve your spot.

Demo day was a lot of fun for the kids, got to tryout all the bats that are going to be hot this year! The DeMarini Zoa and The Goods looked amazing! Boys loved trying out all the Wilson gloves as well - great night!

Congrats to our players wh0 smashed the ball the furthest in our distance contest - all won gift cards:

Aiden Case - 15U
Nolan Bowen - 14U
Ira Hilbelink 13U
Trey - 11U
Malakai Mills - 9U

Mal was putting on a home run show for everyone at DemoDays with the new bats. At 9 years old he was hitting 180 foot bombs, the rest of the boys were cheering him on - it was fun to watch!

Going to be a fun night. Demo Day is almost ready 5-8 PM tonight. We have girls fast pitch gloves and bats as well to demo. We will have some prizes....hope to see you all here!
The new USSSA ZOA from Demarini looks really cool!

Hit machine will be hitting bombs this year!

It's DEMO Day at Hit Machine 5-8 PM tonight!

Rick Miller from Wilson Sports will be at Hit Machine tonight to show off all the best equipment in the business including: DeMarini bats (CF, The Goods and Voodoo and the brand new ZO!), Louisville Slugger (Meta, Select and Solo), plus the best gloves in baseball the Wilson A2000's.
Stop in at Hit Machine and take some swings, ask questions and try out the latest equipment. The event is FREE and all are welcome.

We may even have some fun contests with prizes!

No membership is required. However, November 16th, is the last day to sign up for a membership using last years pricing. Feel free to take advantage of this opportunity and ask about the club.

What a great start to the agility class last night, the kids were really working hard and the 8 week program looks to be fantastic! It will get tougher each night, looking forward to seeing the hard work payoff.

We have 2 spots still open, training is Sunday and Wednesday nights!

We are about ready for the Agility, Speed and Strength class starting on Sunday the 14th. The slam balls are in, battle ropes are being fastened down and the resistance bands hung from the ceiling beams. This is going to be a great training class being led by Mike Rappel (check put his Bio below) who is a physiotherapist and former Triple A pitcher Brandon Magee. We are lucky to have them at the Hit Machine with all their experience...

https://freedompt.com/therapists/mike-ruppel/

Classes are Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Session #1 is 7:15 - 8:00 both nights and Session # 2 is 8:15 -9 PM, We still have 4 spots open, cost is $125 for the 8 weeks - total of 16 sessions.

Contact Shane at 630.501.8074 or [email protected] to register.

SPEED, AGILITY and Strength Training

I am super excited about the baseball specific agility, strength and speed training program that Mike Ruppel and Brandon Magee will be providing at the Hit Machine (details below). This is an 8 - week program, which will lead up to the Velocity Training in Mid-January. A lot of work went into designing the program by Mike and Brandon, can't wait to see the players reap the benefits!

Times: There will be (2) sessions each night (Player attends one). Session #1 One from 7:15 to 8:00 and Session #2 from 8:15 to 9 PM.

Days: Twice weekly. Sunday nights are a for sure. Second night we are deciding between Wednesday or Thursday. Final decision will be made by Monday.

When: First nightly session is November, 14th

Who: 7th Grade - high school.

Class size: Each session will not have more than 10 athletes. This is first come. first serve. This will sell out fast. * We are already more than half full.

Cost: Training for all 8 weeks/ twice a week is $125. Even if you miss some classes due to other sports or commitments, this is still a great value. If you pay the $125, your spot is reserved in that session for all 8 weeks. Or, we will possibly have a drop-in rate of $10 per session if available. I know of at least 10 kids that want to sign-up for the entire session, so this may not be an option - as we only have 20 total spots.

How to sign-up: Just send me an e-mail or text, bring check to first training. [email protected] or 630.501.8074

Details:

Doesn’t matter the sport, everyone wants to be fast, strong and agile. Unfortunately, not everyone is, but everyone can surely develop the skills to compete at a higher level. This comes down to a few key principles, and it’s not just about running a faster baseball 60 yard dash. At Hit Machine’s speed and agility training for baseball players, we will develop position-specific speed and various techniques to get players more explosive. We are going to develop their techniques so they can run faster, react quicker and be more explosive on the field. Here’s a brief outline:
•
1. Basic Topics on Speed Training
2. The Warm-up
3. Linear Acceleration
4. Lateral Acceleration
5. Lateral Change-of-Direction

1. Basic Topics on Speed Training

Getting Fast is First about Getting Strong – The more horsepower a baseball player has, the more force he is able to put into the ground to get his body moving quickly. We can teach running mechanics all we want but if there is limited power being put into the ground on each stride it’s pointless.

On the other side of the coin, it’s not an “all-in or all-out” concept. There can also be a danger in training only max strength without understanding the total picture of the baseball player standing in front of you.

2. The Warm-up

A thorough warm up is what sets the athlete up for a productive training session or game. We’ll go over the steps involved in the warm up and movement prep protocol that all of our baseball players should go through at the beginning of every speed session.

Being explosive and running (and stopping) quickly can be very taxing on not only the muscles and joints, but the central nervous system as well. It is imperative to perform a proper warm up for speed training:

3. Linear Acceleration

Linear acceleration means getting our center of mass moving as quickly as possible moving forward. I It obviously relates to many sports, but is best put to use on the baseball field in the form of base running, stealing and in the outfield. We’re going to break down linear acceleration into three phases and explain how we train each phase separately and eventually connecting them into one fluid movement.
o Phase 1 – Posture
o Phase 2 – Power
o Phase 3 – Drive

4. Lateral Acceleration

Lateral acceleration is where a baseball players can separate himself among the pack. The ability to accelerate or change direction quickly while maintaining an athletic posture sets a ball player up, not only from a performance standpoint, but also visually speaks volumes about his athleticism during any recruiting process.

Why We Use It?

We use it to stay in an athletic position while keeping our “eyes on the prize” when moving laterally. This can go a long way when getting a jump on a ground ball or an outside and/or wild pitch for a catcher.

5. Lateral Change-of-Direction

This is an area where many baseball players make the most mistakes. It’s also an area where top-end speed is not a factor, making those who are great movers in a short area excel. It can be particularly useful to the infielder who needs to make quick cuts to get to a ball on time, or a base runner in order to beat out a run down. We will instruct on how we change direction and go over some corrective cues and strategies you can use to become more proficient at them.

Demo Day - Tuesday, November 16th
Time: 5 PM - 8 PM

Yes, DeMarini and Lousiville Girls Fastpitch bats will be available to Demo as well!

DEMO DAY - Tuesday, November 16th 5 - 8 PM!

Rick Miller from Wilson Sports will be at Hit Machine to show off all the best equipment in the business including: DeMarini bats (CF, The Goods and Voodoo), Louisville Slugger (Meta, Select and Solo), plus the best gloves in baseball the Wilson A2000's.

Stop in at Hit Machine and take some swings, ask questions and try out the latest equipment. The event is FREE and all are welcome.

No membership is required. However, November 16th, is the last day to sign up for a membership using last years pricing. Feel free to take advantage of this opportunity and ask about the club.

Great weekend for tryouts!! If you are trying out today, please bring a pair of cleats and inside shoes (turf or tennis shoes) for the indoor facility. Please register at Hit Machine and we will direct you on where you will be starting the tryout today. Good luck!

Tryouts are coming this weekend and we are excited to see all the ballplayers show up and try out for our travel teams. There will be a registration form that needs to be filled out at the Hit Machine club to start, please plan on arriving 10 mins early to complete that. We will give 10 minutes at the beginning of the tryout for the players to stretch and throw, if more time is needed - arrive a bit earlier. You only need to attend 1 tryout session.

Hey everyone - Please come out and support a great cause next Friday - August 6th in Kiel. Proceeds go to the Junior Diabetes Foundation, great food and watch the kids hit some dingers! Registration and details below...hope to see you there!