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PBR Future Games Midwest: Offensive Statistical Analysis

August 7, 2020
By Andy Sroka
Illinois and Wisconsin Assistant Director

This past week, Prep Baseball Report’s Midwest region gathered in Franklin, Wis., to host its own version of the PBR Future Games. Worldly circumstances prevented us from gathering at our usual site at LakePoint in Emerson, Ga., but our staffs were still able to host and support the top uncommitted prospects inside the 2022 and 2023 class at this illustrious event.

Today, we’ll begin some of our post-event breakdown of the biggest takeaways from the major recruiting event by examining all of the measured statistics more closely, starting with the top offensive performers.

MAX EXIT VELOCITY


Iowa’s Reese Moore (Forest City, 2022) registered the hardest hit ball at our exit velocity station, topping 102 mph off the tee, tied for sixth across all leaderboards of the regionalized Future Games. He’s a left-handed hitter who pounds the ball to his pull gap, and his hardest-hit ball in batting practice travelled 382 feet at 99 mph off the barrel. 3B/1B Luke Adams (Hinsdale Central, IL, 2022) is becoming known for the strength he possesses in his right-handed bat and he swatted baseballs both in gameplay and during BP. He averaged 91 mph exits off the barrel during Sunday night’s batting practice in addition to his 100 mph best at the station. Notably, Adams is able to comfortably apply that bat strength to all fields.

3B/1B Kyle Hvidsten (Jordan, MN, 2022) was easily launching fly balls in BP as well, recording an 97 mph high a couple of times on baseballs that travelled over 380 feet. Teammates from the weekend of Moore and Hvidsten, 1B Sam Harris (Urbandale, IA) is also the lone 2023 on the board above. He scalded some baseballs on Sunday night, including a 365-foot line-drive that topped 98 mph.

Team Wisconsin’s top exit velo leader was also one of its most productive and notable bats in live action: OF Cuyler Zukowski (Madison LaFollette, 2022). Zukowski passes both the eye test and any statistical one, as he generated high marks from TrackMan and Blast Motion evaluations. He hit four balls over 345 feet, and they averaged roughly 97 mph on each of their exits, topping 99.1.

One of the week’s biggest winners is SS Christian Holmes (De La Salle, IL, 2022), who looks like a true shortstop with a loud right-handed bat. His batting practice was among the more fun ones to watch, as he crushed at least a couple home runs out of the big ballpark. In fact, the majority of his BP featured line-drive or well-hit fly balls, demonstrating an innate feel to connect on lofted contact. He hit two baseballs over 98 mph in BP, the furthest of which travelled 382 feet.

Christian Holmes' TrackMan spray chart; distance travelled.

C/INF Jayden Lobliner (St. Charles North, IL, 2022) was arguably the event’s hottest in-game bat. His athleticism and strength stood out behind the plate and he showed that he can consistently line low-lying contact hard to all fields. He averaged 91 mph exit velocities off the barrel in batting practice, though for more of a spray liner approach.

TRACKMAN TAKEAWAYS

While they’re not listed on the leaderboard above, C Drew Berkland (Wayzata, MN, 2022) and OF Joey Nerat (Campbellsport, WI, 2022) both produced some of the day’s loudest contact in batting practice, substantiated by TrackMan. Berkland was arguably the top catching prospect at the event, equipped with big arm strength and a powerful right-handed bat. With a middle-middle approach, Berkland tagged baseballs to center field on repeat – consistent low- to mid-90s exits on liners.

Nerat was a huge winner this past week, and it’ll be reflected inside Wisconsin’s next Class of 2022 update, surely. With some of the quickest hands at the event, Nerat demonstrated premium hand/eye skills the connect consistently on fastballs for hard-hit barreled contact, from a pull-side approach. In batting practice, he peppered right field with lasers. Of his five balls hit 300-plus feet, four of them left the bat at 97 mph or greater, including a 98.9 high. He connected on a tremendous triple in Team Midwest Select’s first game on Monday to dead center that must have travelled 380-plus feet, approximately.

Already one of the first commits to come out of the event, the latest Notre Dame verbal, SS/3B Estevan Moreno (Montini Catholic, IL, 2022), put on a show during his round of BP. Moreno has the awareness to barrel and backspin baseballs through hard-hit fly ball contact that give him some big power potential, as evidenced by a pair of baseballs that travelled 385 feet during his round.

Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly if you’re familiar with the prospect), a 2023 grad hit the farthest ball in batting practice, per TrackMan: C Ryan Bakes (Huntley, IL). Bakes is supremely athletic with advanced strength that perfectly complements his compact cather’s build. With a simple, yet explosive, right-handed swing, Bakes is capable of generating big pop, especially to his pull side. Our PBR Illinois staff has already seen it first-hand this summer, and he showed it off again on Sunday evening, connecting on a 396.8-foot fly ball that left his bat at 98.6 mph.

Bakes’ Team Midwest Select teammate, 3B Jimmy Rolder (Marist, IL, 2022), utilizes his physical 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame very well from the right-handed box. He topped 90 mph at the exit velo station, but got into several mid-90s-plus fly balls in BP, all of which travelled to straightaway center.

Another Illinois prospect provided some power in batting practice worth referencing here: 1B/3B Cooper Ohlson (Lyons Township, 2022). Ohlson swings with a smooth aggression from the right side that allows him to repeat well, producing some huge contact. Ohlson hit five baseballs over 350 feet, including a 390-foot bomb.

BLAST MOTION NOTES

A pair of previously unmentioned prospects actually found ways to break out on the Blast Motion leaderboard: outfielders Addison Ostrenga (Sun Prairie, WI, 2022) and Christian Oppor (Columbus, WI, 2022). Both recorded raw bat speed in elite territory, at 77.5 and 77.2 mph, respectively. Ostrenga’s performance at the Future Games was especially impressive, considering he was able to produce both in-game and in the showcase setting. Per Blast, Ostrenga also recorded a peak hand speed of 26.3 mph, also a premium number and among the day’s best. The 6-foot-4 right-handed hitter also utilizes that hand speed well, meeting the incoming ball on plane at a great rate.

Oppor is a raw athlete with twitch and tools that’s still gaining a greater feel for the game, but those tools are loud and worth continuing to follow as he further develops.

Nerat’s round of batting practice also caught the attention of Blast, as his lightning quick hands produced a top-scale rotational score. Few prospects produce a bat speed that gets to the zone as quickly as Nerat’s left-handed swing, and we saw it for ourselves multiple times in-game.

OF/RHP Joey Malecha (Northfield, MN, 2022) is packed with a next-level toolset and two-way upside, and his athleticism shines in the right-handed batter’s box where he consistently meets the ball on plane, and at a greater rate than his peers. Something similar can be said about his Future Games teammate OF Marcus Phillips (Roosevelt, SD, 2022) has a steady, athletic right-handed bat that recorded a 73.4 mph bat speed. He, too, was also on plane at a substantial rate with fast hand speed. And SS Kael Kolarik (Indianola, IN, 2022) was another Blast winner, with great scores across the device’s primary categories, from plane, connection, and rotation marks.

For Team Illinois, Moreno flaunted his feel for the barrel with a 74 percent on-plane efficiency rate, and the hands are really fast, too. Both these marks support Moreno’s loud BP session, in which he launched a few balls over the fence. From Chicago’s Brother Rice, OF Brandon Rogers (2022) has some elite barrel speed and he rotates at a premium rate. His twitch in the right-handed box and in the outfield makes him one of the more athletic follow prospects in Illinois’ 2022 class.

Lastly, and quickly, Bakes backed up his TrackMan numbers with supporting Blast data, scoring an especially high rotational acceleration courtesy of elite bat speed for his age (73.6 mph) with premium athleticism that allows him to adjust the barrel well enough to produce big power.

Bakes shared a dugout with Wisconsin prospect 3B Davis Hamilton (Sun Prairie, 2022). Hamilton put together several quality, competitive at-bats over the weekend and the simplicity he has in the left-handed box helps him produce easy line-drive contact to all fields. Per Blast, Hamilton connects with the ball dynamically across the zone with above-average hand speed.

Another Wisconsin prospect that Blast helped highlight was OF D.J. Kojis (Whitefish Bay, 2022). Kojis is a wiry thin 6-foot-2 athlete who showed that he also carries some excellent hand/eye skills, meeting the ball on plane often, with athletic hands. 

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