CDN College & University Showcase: Pitching Data Dive
March 5, 2024
On Saturday, March 2nd the Prep Baseball British Columbia staff hosted it's second full showcase of the season with the Canadian College & University Showcase at McLeod Athletic Park in Langley, British Columbia. This event featured over 20 players from the Vancouver area and beyond in the 2024 and 2025 classes and allowed our staff an opportunity to get an in-depth look at the players, as well as collect updated metrics via our tech partner TrackMan.
Beyond updates metrics and profile, the event also players the showcase their skills in front of several college coaches from schools on the West side of Canada.
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.)
STRIKE ZONE %
CHANGEUP
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
UPCOMING EVENTS
SHOWCASE | STATE | DATE | LOCATION |
2024 18U Best of the West | BC | 05/01 | Norbrock Stadium (Kamloops, BC) |
2024 15U Best of the West | BC | 05/01 | Norbrock Stadium (Kamloops, BC) |
2024 Island Future Games Trials | BC | 05/22 | Royal Athletic Park |
2024 BC Future Games Trials | BC | 05/23 | Delair Park Field |
2024 Whalley Summer Open | BC | 08/17 | Whalley Athletic Park |