Welcome back to the hitting side of Trackman Traits. In this series we will spotlight one player each week who stood out during this 2020 season and take a deeper dive into their numbers and take a look at some that really stand out. Since the implementation of the Trackman technology to our showcases this summer we have been fortunate enough to have seen a great deal of talent come through the system. Today, we will be taking a look at the number four outfielder in Pennsylvania's 2021 class, Andrew Kohl

Before we get started, we'll go over and define some of the terminology being used in the piece. 

Exit Velocity-  this one's pretty simple but this metric measures the speed of the ball off the bat, measured in miles per hour (mph).

Distance- another simple one, this metric measures how far the ball traveled or would travel if it was not obstructed, measured in feet.

Launch Angle- measures the vertical angle of the ball as it leaves the bat. Positive numbers represent balls traveling upward off of the bat and negative numbers mean the ball is traveling downward off of the bat. 

Fly Ball %-  Percentage of fly balls hit during a given set of batted ball events. Trackman defines a fly ball as any batted ball with a launch angle between 25 degrees and 49.9 degrees. 

Line Drive%-  Percentage of line drives hit during a given set of batted ball events. Trackman defines a line drive as any batted ball with a launch angle between 10 degrees and 24.9 degrees.

Hard Hit%-  Percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity of 90 MPH or higher. 

Bat Speed- The speed of the sweet spot of the bat at impact, measured in MPH. The sweet spot is measured 6 inches from the tip of the bat. - Blast Motion

Hand Speed-  The speed of the handle of the bat just before impact, measured in MPH. The handle of the bat is measured 6 inches from the knob of the bat. -Blast Motion 

Rotational Acceleration- A measure of how quickly the hitter gets from the launch position to being on plane. This is measured in G-Force (g). - Blast Motion

On Plane Efficiency %- A measure of the percentage of your swing that was on the swing plane. - Blast Motion

TRACKMAN DATA ANALYSIS

We were able to get our eyes on Kohl a few times during the 2020 campaign, but were only able to get our technology on him during the 2020 PA State Games. At one of the most talent-packed events of the summer, Kohl stood out in a big way. Let's dive into the numbers. 

Exit Velocity-  At first glance, these are the numbers that will always catch my eye. Any time you see triple digit exit velocities, you're dealing with a dude who can flat out mash. Kohl's max exit speed was just a tick under 102 MPH, good for 8th at the event in that category. Even more impressive to me is his average exit speed of 97.53 MPH, which was tops at the event. That's some serious juice. To put it in perspective, if you were to replace his max exit velocity and use his average exit velocity of 97.53 MPH as his new max, he would still have placed in the top 10% of all batters at the event.

Distance- Another indicator of his power, Kohl crushed his furthest hit ball 409 ft. Not too many ballparks are going to be able to hold that one. No surprise, that mark was also the high water mark for all players at the event. While his average distance does not jump off the page nearly as much, thanks in part to the amount of ground balls he hit, make no mistake, he still has some legit power in that bat.

Batted Ball Percentages-  Like with exit velocity, another metric that jumped out to me immediately was the hard hit %. It does not take someone all too familiar with these metrics to figure out that hitting the ball hard 100% of the time is a good thing. That is one of the more impressive metrics I've come across when looking at players to spotlight in this series. Diving deeper, he hit fly balls most frequently at 45.5% of the time. Like I mentioned earlier with the average distance, Kohl hit a number of ground balls, 27.3% to be exact, which ultimately hurt his average distance number. He also hit line drives 27.3% of the time. Hitting ground balls will not hurt Kohl's chance of success too much if he is able to hit them as hard as he was at the PA State Games. If he does continue to hit a majority of his balls in the air and even raise his line drive % he should have no problems finding success at the plate and plenty of extra-base hits.

BLAST CONNECTION

Trackman does a great job showing the outcomes of players swings and their batted ball events. Its data is results based, the best numbers come when you get off your best swing and make your best contact. Blast Motion technology, also implemented at the same time this summer as the Trackman, tracks the swing data of a player and can shine a light into what a player does well in their swing. When paired with Trackman data, it can paint a more complete picture of a hitter and help explain why a player is able to hit the ball harder, farther, and more consistently than others. 

Andrew Kohl had a number of eye-popping Trackman metrics, and his Blast metrics are no different. The first number that caught my eye was his bat speed. His fastest swing was tracked at 78.8 MPH. For reference, major league average for this metric sits at 70.3 MPH, so we're clearly looking at some advanced bat speed here. This quick bat can be attributed as one of the reasons that Kohl was able to put up some of those gaudy exit velocities.

Another metric that stuck out to me was his rotational acceleration. He peaked at 26.1 G's in this metric, another very high number. Driveline considers players with rotational accelerations above 15 G's to be high, so this is another number where Kohl is comfortably above average in. Players with higher rotational acceleration generally use their bigger muscles, their core and leg muscles, to help fire the bat into the hitting zone. Another added benefit of higher rotational acceleration numbers is that it helps create more adjustability during a players swing. Both of these numbers do a good job in displaying why Kohl was able to hit the ball as hard and as consistently as he did.

CONCLUSION

Andrew Kohl's BP round was one of the most fun rounds I had the pleasure of watching all summer. The ball just jumped off his bat and the sound was unlike many others. He should have no problem filling out a middle-of-the-order/corner outfielder role at the next level.