Top Prospect - St. Louis: Blast Motion Board
June 28, 2021
On Tuesday, June 15, the PBR Illinois and Missouri scouting staffs hosted the annual Top Prospect - St. Louis event in St. Louis, MO at the Lou Brock sports complex on the Lindenwood University campus. This invite only event fielded a total of 35 athletes from Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas that primarily represented the 2022 graduating classes, although a handful of 2023s also attended.
We published our Quick Hits from the event shortly after, providing a few highlight performances that stood out on Wednesday. Earlier today we published our TrackMan findings, and we published the traditional stats leaderboard earlier in the week with added analysis on more of the event's top performers.
Today, with the help of our Blast Motion sensors, we're analyzing the swing metrics measured at this open event.
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.
For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcase, CLICK HERE.