Chandler City Administrator Jim Moffeit and Chairman of the Parks Board Rick Ford present BMC President Kyle Edwards with a JUGS pitching machine that was donated to the city. BMC has an organizational meeting Sunday before starting play April 16. Baseball season is right around the corner as the BMC Youth Foundation gears up for another strong year on the diamond.

BMC will hold its annual organizational meeting at 3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 29 in the Chandler Community Center and will have a big surprise for its coaches – a new JUGS pitching machine.

Thanks to the City of Chandler and a anonymous donor, the organization will have a machine that will assist outfielders with fly balls while also being able to test the skills of batter in the sophomore division with a variety of pitches at increased speeds.

The timing for the new machine could not have been better as BMC was looking into the possibilities of purchasing one of its own.

“The timing couldn’t have come at a better time,” Chairman of the Chandler Parks Board Rick Ford said. “By coincidence, the BMC board had just authorized its president to try and find and purchase a used pitching machine that the older divisions could use. This machine is exactly what they were looking for. Now they can use that money for something else.”

The machine, with an estimated value of $2,500, was purchased by the donor for his son. When his son decided baseball was not a path he wanted to pursue, the generous man asked the City if the league needed it.

“The City as a great relationship with BMC,” Ford said. “For the last few years they have been donating a portion from their concession sales to assist in projects that upgrade Winchester Park. Thanks to their help, last year we were able to build and pave a much needed additional parking lot and more recently we have replaced every light bulb on the upper three fields so it’s nice to be able to turn around and help them find something that benefits the league.”

Only used for about a month, the machine is in excellent condition and will be put to use right away.

BMC president Kyle Edwards was excited to see the machine for the first time Monday and said he will have several coaches extremely happy with the league.

The machine has two wheels that allows for adjustable speeds and a variety of pitch types including sliders, curve balls, split fingers and the tradition fast ball.

Edwards said the need for the machine was great because the upper divisions do not have a machine that is able to match the pitch speed batters face in a game. The new machine will be able to match those speeds while topping out near 90 MPH.

With the new machine the league now has five available to be used for batting practice in the cages around the park or in games. The other four machines are singlewheel and do not reach the same speeds of have the same variety of pitches the new machine does.

In fact, the league will be hosting a machine-pitch state tournament this year that is expected to draw hundreds of families to Chandler.

Also donated with the machine were a pitcher’s protection net, several bats and balls and a couple of gloves.

Edwards said he will debut the new machine at Sunday’s organizational meeting and expects word to spread fast of its availability.

Sign ups for the spring season are underway and will continue in February. Sign up forms will be sent home with students, be available at Chandler and Brownsboro City Hall and at the boys and girls Little Dribblers games on each Saturday in February.

The season is scheduled to begin April 16.

For more information about the league visit www.leaguelineup.com/bmcbb.