PBR North Carolina held its Winter Kickoff ID on Sunday February 14th in Maiden, NC. The event was held at the Athletes Lab Performance Center. Athletes lab is a spacious facility that has multiple batting cages, a pitching area, weight room, and a fully open cage at 120ft x 100ft. It provides kids with a great place to train. 

Position players were able to run a laser timed 30, take batting practice in the open cage with Trackman and Blast recording ball flight and swing analytics. Position players were also able to go through a defensive workout being graded on their athleticism, footwork, hands, and arm strength. Pitchers threw a controlled bullpen with Trackman measuring ball flight analytics. 

Below we take a look at some notes from the day as well as statistical leaders from the Winter Kickoff ID. 

CLICK HERE to see the full roster and stats collected from the workout. 

Winter Kickoff ID by the Numbers

• 25 players participated in the workout
• 101 mph was the top exit velocity
• 6 players recorded an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher
• 4.21 was the median 30 time 
• 5 Infield arms topped at 80 mph or better
• 3 outfield arms reached 80 mph or better
• 4 pop times at 2.10 or better
• 90 mph was the top fastball 
• 2299rpm was the top fastball spin
• 2631rpm was the top curveball spin

 

Statistical Analysis

THE 30 YARD DASH

With the event being held indoors players ran a laser timed 30 yard dash instead of a sixty.  Inside the Athlete's Lab there is plenty of room to run a full thirty on the laser timer, giving coaches and scouts another metric to measure players against.

(Note: The chart lists this category as Home to First, however this was a straight 30 yard dash from a steal break.)

Trackman EXIT VELOCITY

During BP, TrackMan tracked ball flight off the bat.  One element TrackMan is able to produce is the exit velocity.  Below are the top Exit Velocities produced during live BP.

TRACKMAN MAX DISTANCE

During BP, TrackMan tracked ball flight off the bat.  One element TrackMan is able to produce is the distance each hit travels, if in fair territory.  Below are the top max distances produced during live BP.

POSITIONAL VELOCITY – INFIELDERS

With the indoor setup at The Athlete's Lab, infielders were able to simulate a full length ground ball, working through an exchange and make a throw of approximately 140 feet to a target.  PBR scouts were able to watch the catch, footwork, hands, exchange, and release while gathering information off of a radar gun to give us a feel for arm strength.  Scouts were also able to see carry and accuracy on throws.

POSITIONAL VELOCITY – OUTFIELDERS

Outfielders were able to take a full ground ball off of a fungo, playing through the ball and working to a throw that was approximately 40 yards in distance, at a target.  With the space The ALab provided, scouts in attendance were able to see outfielders work through the ball, transition the baseball into a throw.  Carry and accuracy were paired with a gun reading to give feedback on the arm strength of each outfielder.  Below are the top outfielder positional throws.

CATCHER POP TIMES & POSITIONAL VELOCITY

In the pro-style workout, catchers workout from behind home plate, making multiple throws to 2B, simulating a stolen base attempt.  Scouts again are looking for a quick, clean transition to the release as well as carry and accuracy on the throw.  For catchers, evaluators will put a stopwatch on the “pop time” or the time the ball hits their glove to the time the ball hits the MIF’s glove at 2B.  Coaches can also time the transition from when the ball hits the catchers glove to when he is able to release his throw.  PBR scouts add the radar gun to put a number on the arm strength out of the crouched position.

TRACKMAN INFO - PITCHER BULLPENS

Pitchers were able to throw a controlled bullpen of 15-20 pitches. Trackman was used to measure velocity and spin rate as well as other ball flight analytics. A Stalker Pro SII was also used to flash velocities to an LED board for the player videos, and so the pitcher had some feel for his performance.

Max Fastball Velocity

Max Fastball Spin Rate

Max Curveball Spin Rate