This past Monday and Tuesday, July 8th and 9th, the Prep Baseball Utah staff hosted it's annual Top Prospect Games, our marquee event of the summer, at Cate Field in West Jordan, home of the Salt Lake CC baseball program. This event featured roughly 100 of the top prospects from the 2025 - 2028 classes and allowed our staff an opportunity to get an in-depth look at the players in attendance, as well as collected updated metrics and data.

Top Prospect events are the longest standing, class specific invite-only events across the Prep Baseball ecosystem. The Top Prospect is held in the summer months when recruiting is at a frenzied pace, and are always held in open contact periods with the goal of providing a high-end event for class specific recruiting to college coaches. These events are historically well recruited across the country for one reason: the players. It provides a fresh look at prospects who fit the mold of playing at the next level, both in game play and showcase style events.

The Utah Top Prospect Games allows our staff to identify players early on in the year who deserve invites to some of our National/Regional Events such as the Future Games, Senior Future Games, Junior Future Games and West Coast Games.

Earlier this week, we broke down the top measurable data performers from the event with our Statistical Analysis. Now, we will take a further in-depth look at the top pitchers with the help of our tech partnerships, broken down by the categories down below:

For complete event results, click here.
To view upcoming event schedule, click here.

FASTBALL

MAX VELOCITY (MPH)

Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.

SPIN RATE (AVG)

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.

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

Induced Vertical Break: Used in short form as "IVB," this metric is most important on fastballs for creating rise and on curveballs for creating depth – it can also have some use when measuring sliders and cutters as well. Sliders tend to be closer to zero inches while cutters are generally between 5 and 15 inches. Usually fastballs and curveballs with large IVB have higher spin efficiencies as well. Sliders generally have very little (closer to zero) IVB and very low spin efficiency. You could also categorize IVB into spin rate as this is part of the “useful movement” you’re looking for. IVB is also a huge part of the vertical approach angle.

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

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.”

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

CURVEBALL

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

SLIDER

VELOCITY (MAX)

SPIN RATE (AVG)

CHANGEUP

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

UPCOMING EVENTS

SHOWCASE	STATE	DATE	LOCATION
Future Games (Class of 2026/27)	NATIONAL	07/24	LakePoint Sports
Junior Future Games (Class of 2028/29)	NATIONAL	07/24	LakePoint Sports
Senior Future Games (Class of 2025)	NATIONAL	07/24	LakePoint Sports
2024 Scout Day: CBA Utah	UT	08/24	Pine View High School (St. George, Utah)
2024 Northern Utah Open	UT	09/14	Ridgeline High School (Millville, UT)
2024 Scout Day: GBG Utah	UT	09/21	Skyline High School (Salt Lake City, UT)
2024 West Coast Games	UT	10/04	JSerra High School & Chapman University (Hart Park)

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