On Oct. 3, the PBR Illinois staff hosted the ITB Scout Day at Harper College in Palatine, Ill. The event featured players from the 2024-2026 grad classes and allowed our staff an in-depth look at a select amount of players from the ITB organization.

Today, we'll look at the traditional stats leaders gathered by our staff inside this statistical analysis, as well as a few select players that stood out, found below:

TAKEAWAYS

+ One of the biggest winners in attendance was OF/RHP Matthew Jackson (Prospect, 2026). Jackson is listed at a projectable 6-foot, 160-pounds with a lean build and plenty of room to fill out. His name is a common theme among the leaderboards below in multiple categories. The right-handed hitter has a quick and flat swing through the zone; creating the top Blast metrics across the board in the event. He's quality defender in the outfield as well; playing through the ball aggressively with reliable hands and a strong arm (T80 mph OF). His arm strength easily translates to the mound, where he reached up to 79.6 mph with his fastball with a max IVB of 21.2 and max horizontal movement of 19.3 inches. He showed some feel for an 11/5 curveball at 64-65 mph and fading changeup 65-68 mph.

+ One player that stood out was LHP/OF Jack Crihfield (Fremd, 2025). The southpaw is a clean mover down the mound, producing a fastball up to 73 mph. He showed some feel for all of his off-speed offerings, landing his curveball, slider and changeup for strikes throughout his 'pen. At the plate, the left-handed hitter has a loose/whippy stroke that stays flat through the zone and uses the whole field.

+ C Andrew Kura (Prospect, 2024) showed well for himself on both sides of the ball; 6-foot, 160-pound build with upside and room to fill out. The right-handed hitter has a fluid rhythm at the plate, using a simple stroke that stays level through the zone and to his middle/pull-side. Behind the plate, Kura is a steady receiver of the baseball, working under the ball and presenting it around the zone. He also reached up to 72 mph from the chute and produced a pop-time down to 2.28.

+ INF Drew Terpins (Prospect, 2024) put together one of the more impressive rounds of BP on the day. He has a confident look in the box, moving with a fluid tempo and an uphill path. He rotates through the ball quickly, producing a max rotational acceleration of 22.3g according to Blast. Defensively, he's an athletic mover with fluid footwork and steady hands; moving well to both sides of his glove and reaching up to 72 mph across the diamond.

DATA DIVE

TOP 60-TIMES

MAX INF VELOCITY

MAX OF VELOCITY

MAX C VELOCITY

TOP POP-TIMES

TRACKMAN

We'll continue to roll out the data we gathered from this event, starting with the analytics we have at our disposal from our TrackMan units. Below we'll look at which players had noteworthy batted ball and pitch data.

MAX FASTBALL VELOCITY & 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 CURVEBALL & SLIDER SPIN RATE

AVERAGE CHANGEUP HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

MAX EXIT VELOCITY (HITTING)

MAX DISTANCE (HITTING)

BLAST MOTION

With the help of our Blast Motion sensors, we're analyzing the swing metrics measured at this open showcase.

HAND SPEED (PEAK & AVERAGE)

Peak Hand Speed: The observed maximum speed as measured on the handle of the bat (measured six inches from the knob of the bat). Peak Hand Speed will occur prior to the moment of impact, very close to the commit time in the swing when the wrists unhinge.

BAT SPEED (AVERAGE)

Bat Speed: The observed speed of the sweet spot of the bat at impact. The sweet spot of the bat is measured six inches from the tip of the bat.

ROTATIONAL ACCELERATION (PEAK & AVERAGE)

Body Rotation: A swing that has the appropriate relative contributions of body and bat rotations is an efficient and Powerful swing that maintains proper sequencing. An efficient baseball swing is one in which the body creates the initial movements, which is then transferred to the arms and out to the bat, thereby maximizing Bat Speed through this proximal-to-distal kinematic sequencing movement pattern.

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