On Tuesday, June 23, the PBR Illinois staff made the trip down to the St. Louis area to host the Metro East Open at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., an event that featured almost 50 players that put together some stand-out performances to take note of. Today, we’re going to spend some time dissecting the statistical leaderboards produced at this showcase, highlighting the top performers across the measured categories.

TOP 60-YARD DASH

Well, despite a relatively small roster as compared to some of our other events, this field recorded some stellar times in the 60-yard dash, led by Aiden Heberlie (Valle Catholic, MO, 2022). He clocked in at a premium 6.55, nearly 0.2 seconds quicker than the next best, an excellent 6.74 from Jayden Gegg (2021), another Valle Catholic prospect. Gegg was fractionally in front of a 2024 prospect, Bret Yarger (Rolla, MO), who clocked in at 6.75 – an exceptional mark for an incoming freshman. Jack Lally (Marquette, MO, 2023) narrowly trailed the two just ahead of him with a 6.77 mark of his own.

MAX FASTBALL VELOCITY

RHP Kaydon Norkus (2021) made the trip south from Neuqua Valley to pace the pitcher’s leaderboard with an 88 mph max fastball velo. The strong 6-foot-1, 190-pound athlete sat 87-88 mph in his ‘pen. From Chaminade (MO), RHP Charlie Weber (2022) led the incoming juniors by sitting 84-85 mph, a tick better than RHP Cole Smith’s (Auburn, 2022) 84 high.

MAX EXIT VELOCITY

Emerging as a high-follow member of Missouri’s 2024 class, Yarger starred at the top of this leaderboard as well, recording a 95 mph best at the exit velo station. He’s an athletic 6-foot, 170-pound prospect who looks like an impactful right-handed bat with serious speed. And like Yarger before him, Heberlie doesn’t just run – he’s a premium 6-foot-3, 185-pound athlete who put himself at the top of each of the day’s leaderboards in the categories he participated in. His game-changing speed and bat strength combination should have our PBR Missouri colleagues on high alert. OF/2B Joseph Villarreal (Hickman, MO) was one of the better 2021 prospects coming out of Tuesday’s showcase, and he topped 90 mph at this station, which marked the third-best of the day.

MAX INFIELD VELOCITY

From Lindbergh (MO), 3B Drew Politte (2022) led this group of infielders with an 84 mph high across the diamond and he sat 81-83 on the mound, too. A foursome tied for second, at 81 mph: Mitch Dye (Sacred Heart-Griffin, 2022), Drew Lenz (Rochester, 2021), Austin Martin (Roxana, 2021), and Eli Hensley (Normal West, 2022).

MAX OUTFIELD VELOCITY

Another leaderboard Heberlie is at, or at least near, the top of. His 85 mph high to home shows that he’s a versatile prospect with coveted tools. It was a great PBR event debut for the Valle Catholic incoming junior. The aforementioned Smith and Austin Adcock (Rochester) were a pair more 2022s who were just a tick short of Heberlie’s high.

MAX CATCHER VELOCITY

Edwardsville’s Jackson Toberman (2022) put together a strong all-around day, standing out amongst this small crop of catchers. He’s a solid follow for his well-rounded profile as a backstop with a little strength from the right-handed box inside a prototypical build, at 6-foot-1, 187 pounds.

TOP POP TIMES

Toberman naturally led this group on this leaderboard, too. His arm strength and quick overall actions helped him average the lowest catch-and-throw times on the day by a fair margin.

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