West Suburban Open: TrackMan Files
July 11, 2022
On Tuesday, June 28th, the PBR Illinois staff traveled to Lee Pfund Stadium in Wheaton, Illinois, to host the West Suburban Open. This event featured more than 20 prospects from the 2023-to-2026 graduating classes and provided our staff an opportunity to check-in on them as the summer progresses.
Earlier this week we published Quick Hits highlighting the top prospects of the event by class. We also rolled out a Statistical Analysis pointing out the top recorded stats by category.
Now 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 metric data.
MAX FASTBALL & 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.