Edmonton Future Games Trials: Pitching Data Dive
March 11, 2024
On Saturday, March 9th the Prep Baseball Alberta staff hosted the first of eight scheduled Future Games Trials across the country with the Edmonton Future Games Trials at The Shop by SPMBA in Sherwood Park, Alberta. This event featured 34 players in the Edmonton and surrounding area in the 2025 - 2027 classes.
Future Games Trials allow our staff to get an up close look and updated metrics/data on eligible players for the Future Games (2026 & 2027s) and the Senior Future Games (2025s, both taking place in late July at LakePoint Sports (Emerson, Georgia).
Earlier this week we began our post-event coverage within our Statistical Analysis article. Today we'll take a deeper dive into all of the data we collected from the event within this article as we provide leaderboards on each metric collected on TrackMan during bullpens at the event.
For complete event results, click here.
To view upcoming events, click here.
FASTBALL
MAX VELOCITY (MPH)
Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.
SPIN RATE (AVG)
Spin Rate: This metric calculates the rate of spin on the baseball as it leaves the pitcher’s hand, measured in revolutions per minute (rpm). Historical data shows that high-spin fastballs lessen the impact of gravity, allowing for more ‘rise’ (or less fall, in other words) as it carries through the zone. Low-spin fastballs typically indicate the pitch has greater horizontal action, often making it tougher to square up, but generally easier to make contact with, leading to more ground balls, while high-spin fastballs show a correlation with swings and misses.
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
Induced Vertical Break: Used in short form as "IVB," this metric is most important on fastballs for creating rise and on curveballs for creating depth – it can also have some use when measuring sliders and cutters as well. Sliders tend to be closer to zero inches while cutters are generally between 5 and 15 inches. Usually fastballs and curveballs with large IVB have higher spin efficiencies as well. Sliders generally have very little (closer to zero) IVB and very low spin efficiency. You could also categorize IVB into spin rate as this is part of the “useful movement” you’re looking for. IVB is also a huge part of the vertical approach angle.
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Horizontal Break: Outlined on TrackMan’s own website: “... horizontal movement is measured in inches between where the pitch actually crosses the front of home plate side-wise, and where it would have crossed home plate side-wise if had it traveled in a perfectly straight line from release. A positive number means the break was to the right from the pitcher’s perspective, while a negative number means the break was to the left from the pitcher’s perspective.”
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
CURVEBALL
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
SLIDER
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
CHANGEUP
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
UPCOMING EVENTS
SHOWCASE | STATE | DATE | LOCATION |
2024 Okotoks Dawgs Scout Day | AB | 03/27 | Dunvernay Fieldhouse |
2024 AHP Renegades Scout Day | AB | 03/29 | Absolute Human Performance |
2024 Medicine Hat Preseason ID | AB | 04/14 | Mavericks Athletic Park |
2024 Calgary Future Games Trials | AB | 04/17 | Tourmaline Field |
2024 Parkland Academy Scout Day | AB | 04/18 | Tri Leisure Centre |
2024 18U Best of the West | AB | 05/01 | Norbrock Stadium (Kamloops, BC) |
2024 15U Best of the West | AB | 05/01 | Norbrock Stadium (Kamloops, BC) |
2024 Calgary Blues Scout Day | AB | 05/10 | Optimist Athletic Park |
2024 Black Gold 47s Scout Day | AB | 05/15 | Turf Training Centre |
2024 Calgary Summer Open | AB | 06/26 | Webber Academy Athletic Park |