Madison Preseason I.D.: TrackMan Files

March 25, 2021
By Andy Sroka
Illinois and Wisconsin Assistant Director

On March 14, the PBR Wisconsin team hosted the Madison Preseason I.D., at GRB Academy in Windsor, Wis. This was an open event for all high school classes (2021-24), and gave our staff an ample look at the area's top players as, perennially, the largest event on our winter circuit with over 170 players in attendance.

Last week, in our first post-event piece from this event, we published our biggest takeaways and highlights from Sunday’s showcase within our Quick Hits story, and highlighted more top performances in the Statistical Analysis. We're diving deeper into the data today with pitch and batted-ball metrics provided by TrackMan, and we're diving a little deeper into the data to see what we can find.

MAX FASTBALL VELOCITY & 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.