Chicagoland Open: Pitching Data Dive
August 31, 2023
On Sunday, August 27th the PBR Illinois team hosted the Chicagoland Open at Triton College in River Grove, IL. This open event was for all high school classes (2024-27), and gave our staff a chance to get a look at 40+ uncommitted prospects before the summer ends..
For a closer look at the showcase details and the technologies we'll have on-site to assist our in-person evaluation for all in attendance, click here. For a complete look at those registered to attend this event, view the most up-to-date version of the roster by clicking here.
Tuesday, we took a closer look at some of the immediate standouts who caught our attention with our Quick Hits and our Statistical Analysis, where we broke down the stat leaders from the more traditional categories. Today, we will take a further in-depth look at the top pitchers with the help of our tech partnerships, broken down by the categories down below:
TRACKMAN
FASTBALL
VELOCITY (MAX)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Velocity (max) |
1 | Antonio Brown Jr | IL | Homewood-Flossmoor High School | 2026 | RHP | 85.0 mph |
2 | Jacob Armstrong | IL | Timothy Christian | 2024 | 3B | 83.7 mph |
3 | Jackson Beiler | IL | Mount Zion | 2025 | SS | 82.9 mph |
4 | Warren Furio | IL | Lake Park | 2026 | RHP | 81.9 mph |
5 | Sean O'Dowd | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 81.0 mph |
Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Spin Rate (avg)
1
Antonio Brown Jr
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor High School
2026
RHP
2131 rpm
2
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
2082 rpm
3
Reece Huber
IL
Maine South
2027
OF
1970 rpm
4
Michael Preuss
IL
Lemont
2027
RHP
1960 rpm
5
James Versino
IL
Guilford
2026
LHP
1954 rpm
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.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
IVB (avg)
1
Jackson Beiler
IL
Mount Zion
2025
SS
16.6 in
2
Reece Huber
IL
Maine South
2027
OF
16.4 in
3
Tyler Weigand
IL
Northside College Preparatory High School
2025
SS
16.3 in
4
Dominic Yalden
IL
Hononegah
2024
RHP
15.1 in
5
Quinn Huber
IL
Maine South High School
2025
LHP
14.0 in
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.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
HM (avg)
1
Hunter Bergdahl
IL
Lakes Community
2027
SS
19.6
2
Jacob Armstrong
IL
Timothy Christian
2024
3B
18.6
3
Sean O'Dowd
IL
Maine South
2024
RHP
15.9
4
Hunter Becker
IL
Peotone
2024
RHP
15.4
5
Quinn Huber
IL
Maine South High School
2025
LHP
-13.6
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%
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Zone %
1
Hunter Becker
IL
Peotone
2024
RHP
75 %
2
Hunter Bergdahl
IL
Lakes Community
2027
SS
66 %
3
Michael Preuss
IL
Lemont
2027
RHP
60 %
^
Jake Sellis
IL
St. Rita
2027
3B
60 %
Average MLB pitchers throw 62% strikes, and better pitchers throw strikes 65% of the time, or roughly 2:1 strikes to balls.
CURVEBALL
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Spin Rate (avg)
1
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
2273 rpm
2
Michael Preuss
IL
Lemont
2027
RHP
2229 rpm
3
Quinn Huber
IL
Maine South High School
2025
LHP
2067 rpm
4
Reece Huber
IL
Maine South
2027
OF
1966 rpm
5
Antonio Brown Jr
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor High School
2026
RHP
1947 rpm
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
IVB (avg)
1
Jackson Beiler
IL
Mount Zion
2025
SS
-8.3 in
2
Hunter Bergdahl
IL
Lakes Community
2027
SS
-4.9 in
3
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
-4.7 in
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
HM (avg)
1
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
-11.1
2
Hunter Bergdahl
IL
Lakes Community
2027
SS
-10.8
3
Quinn Huber
IL
Maine South High School
2025
LHP
8.9
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Zone %
1
Hunter Bergdahl
IL
Lakes Community
2027
SS
60 %
^
James Versino
IL
Guilford
2026
LHP
60 %
2
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
50 %
SLIDER
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Spin Rate (avg)
1
Jacob Armstrong
IL
Timothy Christian
2024
3B
2479
2
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
2255
3
Sean O'Dowd
IL
Maine South
2024
RHP
2041
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
IVB (avg)
1
Sean O'Dowd
IL
Maine South
2024
RHP
9.7 in
2
Antonio Brown Jr
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor High School
2026
RHP
4.3 in
3
Emmanuel Deoudes
IL
IC Catholic Prep
2026
SS
-2.6 in
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
HM (avg)
1
Hunter Becker
IL
Peotone
2024
RHP
-12.8
2
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
-12.3
3
Jacob Armstrong
IL
Timothy Christian
2024
3B
-9.7
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Zone %
1
Sean O'Dowd
IL
Maine South
2024
RHP
66 %
2
Jake Sellis
IL
St. Rita
2027
3B
50 %
CHANGEUP
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Zone %
1
Sean O'Dowd
IL
Maine South
2024
RHP
66 %
2
Jake Sellis
IL
St. Rita
2027
3B
50 %
3
Dominic Yalden
IL
Hononegah
2024
RHP
33 %
4
Tyler Weigand
IL
Northside College Preparatory High School
2025
SS
25 %
^
Antonio Brown Jr
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor High School
2026
RHP
25 %
^
Warren Furio
IL
Lake Park
2026
RHP
25 %
5
Jacob Armstrong
IL
Timothy Christian
2024
3B
20 %
^
Emmanuel Deoudes
IL
IC Catholic Prep
2026
SS
20 %
^
Hunter Becker
IL
Peotone
2024
RHP
20 %
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
HM (avg)
1
Hunter Bergdahl
IL
Lakes Community
2027
SS
18.6
2
Sean O'Dowd
IL
Maine South
2024
RHP
16.9
+ CLICK HERE for a look at the complete statistics from the event.
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