Baseball fielding has historically been a two-man job. While there is an established market of pitching machines that focus on building the offensive skills of a batter, there are not many products that are dedicated to the defensive skill training of fielders. Furthermore, almost all existing machines that address this part of the market do not have the capability of being remote controllable. At the time of designing, the FM250 from Fungoman is the only system that stands as a direct competitor of this project, with a hefty price tag of $15000 making it beyond the purchasing capability of most small baseball clubs. 

The objective of this project is to develop a machine that improves a player’s fielding skills. Michael Smith realized that there was a gap in the market for a more economical system that allows players to practice defensive fielding without the need for other players or coaches while still being affordable for most of the baseball communities. Thus, "The Trainer" was designed to be an automated baseball fielding machine that will allow for individual fielding practice for all different types of players.

"The Trainer" operates with a similar mechanism as a pitching machine, utilizing a flywheel to launch baseballs with a top speed of up to 70mph. In comparison to the manual adjustment of trajectory that is used on other traditional machines, the system is capable of adjusting its trajectory upon remote command. This is achieved by adjusting the pitch, yaw, and velocity of the launching vector with the help of three motors that are controlled remotely. The machine can hold a reserve of up to 10 balls and launch a ball from the reserve when a user request is received. A fielder will be able to adjust the trajectory of the ball while being on the field and have it launched in that specific trajectory repetitively in order to practice for the defensive skill against that trajectory without the need for another person to be present.