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If you haven't been to a batting cage lately, things have changed a bit. Two spinning tires don't seem so high-tech, next to the interactive screen like the ProBatter Sports batting cage in Manhattan's Chelsea Piers.

In older batting cages, hitters aim at balls thrown by inanimate objects, but now hitters can response to a projected image of a pitcher.

"Generic pitching machines, they come out of either two wheels or a metal arm," says Adam Battersby of ProBatter Sports. "So when you're hitting off it, you're hitting off your front foot. Your timing is not really correct so you don't really get in a good groove. With our machine you get the whole windup and when the hand comes up the ball comes out of the hole, which is very beneficial for the batter."

A computer behind the screen is synched with the pitching machine, so that a ball comes out when the projector shows the pitcher's hand releasing the ball.

"We use minor leaguers from the stretch and the full wind-up. We also use little leaguers," says Battersby. "So when the batter steps in, he has a full color touch screen, allowing him to pick one of eight different pitches, any location, any speed up to 100 mph."

The machine also works for softball players.

After using the machine for the very first time, one young hitter says it helps his confidence and timing.

"It's more realistic so you don't just have the traditional metal arm throwing the ball, you have an actual pitcher," says the hitter. "It helps your eye, helps that you get the ball coming off his hand."

Apparently some professional ball players agree. A handful of Major League teams - the New York Yankees and Mets, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians - have all bought virtual pitcher pitching machines.