Chicago Preseason I.D.: TrackMan Files
March 14, 2021
On Feb. 28, the PBR Illinois team hosted the third annual Chicago Preseason I.D. at the Pullman Community Center in Chicago, Ill. The event featured nearly 50 players from high school graduates from classes 2022-2025 across the Chicagoland area, including a handful of prospects from across the Indiana state line.
Previously, our staff collaborated to highlight the biggest takeaways and highlights from this showcase, and we published them within our Quick Hits piece. We also shared the event's traditional leaderboards, published inside this Statistical Analysis. Today, with the help of our TrackMan unit, we're diving a little deeper into the data to see what we can find.
MAX FASTBALL VELOCITY & PEak SPIN RATE
Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.
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.
AVERAGE FASTBALL HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT
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.”
AVERAGE SLIDER SPIN RATE
AVERAGE CURVEBALL SPIN RATE
AVERAGE CHANGEUP HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT
AVERAGE EXIT VELOCITY (HITTING)
Exit Speed: Also according to TrackMan’s own website: “The speed of the ball, measured in miles per hour, as it comes off the bat at the moment of contact.”
PEAK EXIT VELOCITY (HITTING)
PEAK ESTIMATED BATTED DISTANCE (HITTING)
For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcase, CLICK HERE.