St. Louis Open: TrackMan Files
June 22, 2022
On Wednesday, June 15, the PBR Illinois and PBR Missouri staffs collaborated to host the annual St. Louis Open at the Billiken Sports Center on the campus of Saint Louis University. This event regularly allows both us an opportunity to check in on players from the Greater Metro region, including prospects that attend from central and southern Illinois.
To see which players attended, as well as all of the statistics from this event, click HERE.
We recently rolled out the Stat Story from this event, highlighting which players found themselves atop the leaderboards from this event. Today, with the help of our tech partners, we'll dive deeper into the numbers collected by analyzing the pitch metrics and batted ball data captured throughout the day.
Read below to see which prospects' popped from a data standpoint on our TrackMan units.
MAX FASTBALL & PEAK SPIN RATE
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Velocity (max) |
1 | Ronnie Willenbrink | MO | Affton | 2023 | RHP | 86.6 mph |
2 | Henry Kufa | IL | Carlinville | 2023 | SS | 83.1 mph |
3 | Cole Evans | MO | Timberland | 2023 | RHP | 82.9 mph |
4 | Noah Arnold | IL | Harrisburg | 2024 | RHP | 82.3 mph |
5 | Hayden Gilmore | MO | KENNETT HIGH | 2025 | 1B | 82.2 mph |
6 | Zack Boland | MO | Parkway West | 2023 | LHP | 81.1 mph |
7 | Reiss Beahan | MO | Columbia Hickman | 2023 | LHP | 80.0 mph |
8 | Grainger Yurevich | MO | Morton College | 2023 | RHP | 80.0 mph |
9 | John Hilpert | IL | Belleville West | 2025 | RHP | 79.7 mph |
10 | Tommy Kramkowski | IL | Belleville East | 2025 | RHP | 79.5 mph |
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Spin Rate (max) |
1 | Ronnie Willenbrink | MO | Affton | 2023 | RHP | 2236 rpm |
2 | Zack Boland | MO | Parkway West | 2023 | LHP | 2184 rpm |
3 | Tommy Kramkowski | IL | Belleville East | 2025 | RHP | 2154 rpm |
4 | Henry Kufa | IL | Carlinville | 2023 | SS | 2139 rpm |
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
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | HM (avg) |
1 | Ronnie Willenbrink | MO | Affton | 2023 | RHP | 18.2 |
2 | Reiss Beahan | MO | Columbia Hickman | 2023 | LHP | -11.9 |
3 | Drew Messey | MO | Westminster Christian | 2026 | SS | 11.5 |
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
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Spin Rate (avg) |
1 | John Hilpert | IL | Belleville West | 2025 | RHP | 2500 |
2 | Tommy Kramkowski | IL | Belleville East | 2025 | RHP | 2148 |
Average Curveball Spin Rate
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Spin Rate (avg) |
1 | John Hilpert | IL | Belleville West | 2025 | RHP | 2592 rpm |
2 | Zack Boland | MO | Parkway West | 2023 | LHP | 2468 rpm |
3 | Ronnie Willenbrink | MO | Affton | 2023 | RHP | 2362 rpm |
4 | Reiss Beahan | MO | Columbia Hickman | 2023 | LHP | 2315 rpm |
5 | Henry Kufa | IL | Carlinville | 2023 | SS | 2268 rpm |
Average Changeup Horizontal Movement
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | HM (avg) |
1 | Drew Messey | MO | Westminster Christian | 2026 | SS | 14.2 |
2 | Jackson Ryan | MO | Wentzville Liberty | 2026 | SS | 13.3 |
3 | Cole Evans | MO | Timberland | 2023 | RHP | 13.2 |
4 | Reiss Beahan | MO | Columbia Hickman | 2023 | LHP | -13.1 |
Average Exit Velocity (Hitting)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Exit Velocity (avg) |
1 | Caden Paxton | MO | Windsor | 2023 | C | 86.2 mph |
2 | Eric Williams | MO | Fort Zumwalt East | 2024 | SS | 86.0 mph |
3 | Grainger Yurevich | MO | Morton College | 2023 | RHP | 84.9 mph |
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)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Exit Velocity (max) |
1 | Reiss Beahan | MO | Columbia Hickman | 2023 | LHP | 94.8 mph |
2 | Kaden Kinsler | MO | Elsberry | 2023 | CF | 93.2 mph |
3 | Eric Williams | MO | Fort Zumwalt East | 2024 | SS | 93.0 mph |
4 | Luke Isaacs | IL | Freeburg | 2023 | MIF | 92.6 mph |
5 | Jake Stedman | IL | Belleville West | 2024 | SS | 92.1 mph |
6 | Caden Paxton | MO | Windsor | 2023 | C | 91.9 mph |
7 | Grainger Yurevich | MO | Morton College | 2023 | RHP | 90.7 mph |
Peak Estimated Batted Distance (Hitting)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Distance (max) |
1 | Caden Paxton | MO | Windsor | 2023 | C | 347 ft |
2 | Grainger Yurevich | MO | Morton College | 2023 | RHP | 342 ft |
3 | Joseph Bline | WI | J.I. Case | 2024 | 1B | 337 ft |
4 | Kaden Kinsler | MO | Elsberry | 2023 | CF | 334 ft |
5 | Luke Isaacs | IL | Freeburg | 2023 | MIF | 330 ft |
6 | John Hilpert | IL | Belleville West | 2025 | RHP | 323 ft |
7 | Ethan Weber | MO | Rockwood Summit | 2023 | 1B | 319 ft |
8 | Gavin Mabe | MO | Union | 2024 | C | 315 ft |