Prep Baseball Report

Northwest Suburban Summer ID: Positional Data Dive


By: Kevin Cronin
Illinois & Wisconsin Data Coordinator, Area Scout

On July 9th, the Prep Baseball Illinois staff hosted the Northwest Suburban Summer ID at Wintrust Field in Schaumburg, Ill. Over 45 players participated in a pro-style workout, gathering unrivaled access to data through our state-of-the-art tech partners, as well as in-depth scouting analysis from our Prep Baseball Illinois staff.

Wednesday, we looked at the top measurable data performers from the event, found in our Statistical Analysis, where we broke down the stat leaders from the more traditional categories. We also released our Quick Hits from the event, highlighting some of the event's top prospects.

Now, we will take a further in-depth look at the top positional prospects with the help from our tech partnerships, broken down by the categories down below:

ATHLETIC TESTING

60-YARD DASH

Rank Name State School Class Pos 60-yard
1 Gavin Hartigan IL Nazareth Academy 2028 SS 6.82
2 Kyle Ziebell IL HARVEST CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 2026 SS 7.00
3 Tyler Edmondson IL Oak Park & River Forest High Sch 2026 OF 7.02
4 Colin Albano IL Wauconda 2027 OF 7.05
5 Tommy Pruyn IL Lake Park 2025 OF 7.07

Traditionally, the 60-yard dash has been the in-event standard to help measure a player's speed tool. We implemented three timing gates at the 10 and 30 yards, to capture athletes’ quickness, explosiveness and reaction time. From there, we will calculate an athlete’s top-end speed in miles per hour. While the measurement still has its utility, the 10-yard split has started to become more and more applicable in determining the player's burst and reaction time in-game, whether that's in the outfield or on the basepaths.

Max Vertical Jump

Rank Name State School Class Pos Jump Height (max)
1 Carter Dees IL Huntley 2026 RHP 40.4
2 Cavan Dunne IL Benet Academy 2025 RHP 33.3
3 Gavin Hartigan IL Nazareth Academy 2028 SS 33.0
4 Tyler Edmondson IL Oak Park & River Forest High Sch 2026 OF 29.7
5 Derrick Pomatto IL Joliet Catholic 2027 C 29.0
6 Enrique Villanueva IL ST LAURENCE H.S. 2025 C 28.8
7 Tyler Weeks IL South Elgin 2026 SS 27.8
8 Christian Derosena IL Glenbrook South High School 2026 2B 27.7
9 Tyler Gadomski IL Plainfield Central 2025 OF 27.6
10 Declan Gallicho IL Fremd 2026 OF 27.3

Max RSI

Rank Name State School Class Pos RSi (max)
1 Kyle Ziebell IL HARVEST CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 2026 SS 3.22
2 Caleb East IL Oswego 2028 OF 2.71
3 Tyler Weeks IL South Elgin 2026 SS 2.53
4 Charlie Quick IL Lake Forest 2026 C 2.38
5 Christian Derosena IL Glenbrook South High School 2026 2B 2.30
6 Daniel Murphy IL Willowbrook 2025 1B 2.25
7 Grayson Hoffman IL Latin School of Chicago 2026 SS 2.24
8 Luis Avila IL Conant 2025 3B 2.19
9 Tyler Edmondson IL Oak Park & River Forest High Sch 2026 OF 2.06
10 Tyler Gadomski IL Plainfield Central 2025 OF 2.05

The ability to develop force quickly is a requisite ability in most sports. The Reactive Strength Index (RSI) has been developed as a measure of explosive strength and is derived by evaluating jump height divided by ground contact time during the depth jump. Regarding Vertical Jumps and its application to baseball, there have been studies conducted that show a correlation between max jump height for an athlete and their ability to generate power and strength, especially on the mound.


TRACKMAN

EXIT VELOCITY (MAX)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (max)
1 Jackson Merdalo IL Stevenson 2025 C 97.1 mph
2 Jacob Ganir IL East Leyden High School 2026 1B 93.9 mph
3 Jason Keefe IL Lake Park 2025 OF 93.8 mph
4 Carson Hubert IL Carmel 2025 C 92.6 mph
5 Keenan Donaldson IL New Trier 2026 C 92.2 mph
6 Soren Hansen IL Grayslake Central 2026 C 91.7 mph
7 Tommy Pruyn IL Lake Park 2025 OF 91.0 mph
8 Joey Kahn IL Oak Park-River Forest 2025 RHP 90.8 mph
9 Derrick Pomatto IL Joliet Catholic 2027 C 90.4 mph
10 Tyler Weeks IL South Elgin 2026 SS 90.1 mph

EXIT VELOCITY (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (avg)
1 Jackson Merdalo IL Stevenson 2025 C 89.1 mph
2 Keenan Donaldson IL New Trier 2026 C 88.6 mph
3 Soren Hansen IL Grayslake Central 2026 C 87.7 mph
4 Declan Gallicho IL Fremd 2026 OF 84.9 mph
5 Jason Keefe IL Lake Park 2025 OF 83.8 mph

Exit Velocity: This metric measures the speed of the ball, measured in miles per hour, as it comes off the bat at the moment of contact.

BATTED BALL DISTANCE (MAX)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Jackson Merdalo IL Stevenson 2025 C 374 ft
2 Keenan Donaldson IL New Trier 2026 C 357 ft
3 Jacob Ganir IL East Leyden High School 2026 1B 356 ft
4 Joey Kahn IL Oak Park-River Forest 2025 RHP 354 ft
5 Tyler Edmondson IL Oak Park & River Forest High Sch 2026 OF 340 ft
6 Declan Gallicho IL Fremd 2026 OF 331 ft
7 Grayson Caine IL St. Charles East 2027 OF 322 ft
8 Kyle Ziebell IL HARVEST CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 2026 SS 321 ft
9 Connor Lamb IL Plainfield East 2026 SS 320 ft
10 Soren Hansen IL Grayslake Central 2026 C 319 ft

SWEET SPOT%

Rank Name State School Class Pos Sweet Spot %
1 Landon Crone IL Harvard 2025 SS 100 %
2 Peyton Tucker WI Turner 2027 OF 83 %
3 Soren Hansen IL Grayslake Central 2026 C 80 %
4 Grayson Hoffman IL Latin School of Chicago 2026 SS 77 %
^ Declan Gallicho IL Fremd 2026 OF 77 %
5 Tommy Pruyn IL Lake Park 2025 OF 75 %

Sweet Spot percentage: This metric is determined by how often the player produces a batted ball during the session with a launch angle between 8 to 32 degrees.


BLAST MOTION

HAND SPEED (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Hand Speed (avg)
1 Connor Lamb IL Plainfield East 2026 SS 22.5 mph
2 Leon Solarczyk IL Elmwood Park 2026 1B 22.2 mph
3 Kyle Ziebell IL HARVEST CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 2026 SS 21.9 mph
4 Jackson Merdalo IL Stevenson 2025 C 21.5 mph
5 Aiden Owens IL Jacobs 2026 OF 20.8 mph
6 Tyler Edmondson IL Oak Park & River Forest High Sch 2026 OF 20.8 mph
7 Keenan Donaldson IL New Trier 2026 C 20.7 mph
8 Austin Govoni IL Romeoville 2025 2B 20.7 mph
9 Carter Dees IL Huntley 2026 RHP 20.7 mph
10 Jason Keefe IL Lake Park 2025 OF 20.7 mph

Hand Speed: The observed 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 (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Bat Speed (avg)
1 Carson Hubert IL Carmel 2025 C 73.1 mph
2 Jackson Merdalo IL Stevenson 2025 C 71.9 mph
3 Jason Keefe IL Lake Park 2025 OF 71.8 mph
4 Tyler Edmondson IL Oak Park & River Forest High Sch 2026 OF 71.4 mph
5 Keenan Donaldson IL New Trier 2026 C 70.7 mph
6 Gavin Hartigan IL Nazareth Academy 2028 SS 70.5 mph
7 Kyle Ziebell IL HARVEST CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 2026 SS 70.2 mph
8 Soren Hansen IL Grayslake Central 2026 C 68.7 mph
9 Grayson Caine IL St. Charles East 2027 OF 68.7 mph
10 Enrique Villanueva IL ST LAURENCE H.S. 2025 C 68.5 mph

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 (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Rot. Acc (avg)
1 Jackson Merdalo IL Stevenson 2025 C 17.1 g
2 Austin Govoni IL Romeoville 2025 2B 15.8 g
3 Connor Lamb IL Plainfield East 2026 SS 15.6 g
4 Soren Hansen IL Grayslake Central 2026 C 15.6 g
5 Darren Barnes IL Batavia 2025 2B 15.2 g

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.

VIZUAL EDGE

EDGE SCORE

Rank Name State School Class Pos Edge Score
1 Jackson Merdalo IL Stevenson 2025 C 84.54
2 Jacob Ganir IL East Leyden High School 2026 1B 78.85
3 Tyler Weeks IL South Elgin 2026 SS 77.28
4 Tyler Gadomski IL Plainfield Central 2025 OF 76.32
5 Soren Hansen IL Grayslake Central 2026 C 76.28
6 Leon Solarczyk IL Elmwood Park 2026 1B 74.28
7 Grayson Caine IL St. Charles East 2027 OF 73.70
8 Darren Barnes IL Batavia 2025 2B 73.31
9 Derrick Pomatto IL Joliet Catholic 2027 C 72.68
10 Connor Lamb IL Plainfield East 2026 SS 72.26

The Edge Score is a comprehensive score out of 100 that takes the core-six visual skills into account, providing athletes, parents, coaches and scouts with a benchmark number for assessing an athlete’s overall visual ability. In general the higher the Edge Score, the higher chance of athletic success. Think of the Edge Score as the 'Sixth Metric' in the standard Five-Tools that make up a ball player.

The average Edge Score for the 2020 MLB Draft Class was 79.3 (of hitters who completed a Vizual Edge test). MLB players we've worked with typically show stronger scores, with elite hitters scoring consistently above 87.0 on their Edge Score.

+ CLICK HERE for a look at the complete statistics from the event.

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