Rawlings | Flat Seam High

After a lot of online research I bought these to spit through our 13U travel team's new Bata2 pitching machine, "Big Blue." As expected, these do a nice job of providing a real baseball-like hitting experience and break less than most standard baseballs because they don't have raised seams (different types and brands of baseballs have different seam heights). I find them especially helpful when working on hitting a specific type of breaking pitch. This isn't to say they come out exactly the same every time, and I can still add a little variety to pitches by changing up how I feed them. When we first started using these I got a few gripes when we did drills that involved making quick throws after a catch, but the kids have gotten used to them. As with any pitching machine ball they get marked up quickly, but they have been plenty durable so far. I'd say the only catch to these is that the normally slightly tacky covers become slick when these get even a little wet. This affects their performance through the pitching machine and makes infield drills impossible. Plan accordingly if you'll be dealing with dew or rain. Overall a great purchase. I suggest buying them from Amazon Warehouse and saving yourself or your team some hard-earned money. Have fun!

I give hitting lessons in a local facility and have used these pitching machine baseballs exclusively in our Hack Attack Jr. pitching machine. These balls are very hard and stay hard. The seams are very low so they don't have any unexpected movement. Regular baseballs will get soft and the seams will eventually come apart, so they will cut or run or otherwise have unpredictable, inconsistent movement. That's not the case with these balls. Anyone who says they won't work with a 3-wheeled Hack Attack Jr. most likely has something wrong with their machine. These last FAR longer than regular baseballs.

FAR more durable than regular baseballs! They do get dirty, but you can aggressively scrub them and they clean up eventually. The pitching machine does leave black marks on them, and those are harder to remove. They make a bit more noise when shot through a pitching machine because they are very firm. They play pretty true when doing grounders, but every once in awhile there are anomalies. Keeps you on your toes. Overall, I could see how these could save you lots of money over the years, especially if you were just hitting in a cage with someone throwing to you.

We bought the Furlihong 777BH Dual wheel baseball pitching machine which came with 3 yellow balls which work really well. We then bought a dozen of these rawlings ultimate practice balls that are for the machine but they are all over the place excluding my son rib cage. Don't buy them.

These pitching machine balls are amazing. Roughly the same dimensions and weight of a regulation baseball with much better durability. The seams are raised but not enough to give my single wheel pitching machine any problems. After a few dozen trips through the machine these balls are in great shape, with only the expected scuffing to prevent them from passing as brand new. Will buy these again before the current dozen do eventually wear out.

Best machine ball I have used so far. Jugs PS50 machine at 45-50 mph. I have mainly used the other low seam balls with this cover, but this "no seam" or "flat seam" really improved the consistency of the pitches. Highly recommend them for use with pitching machines. Pop off the bat was good, but just slightly reduced from good leather baseballs. Feel off the bat was great and hits almost like a good baseball.

good balls just wish the prices didnt change so much on these. Would but more if they were priced lower

A quality product but I gave them 4 stars only due to the high price of baseballs. Especially considering how many our non-profit league go through each season.