Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

Mid-Atlantic ProCase: Trackman Traits (Part 1)

March 24, 2021
Mason McRae
PBR Virginia/DC

Follow @PBRVirginiaDC 
Facebook + Instagram

The expanded usage of data, and the importance of it in regards to player development and player assessment is a legitimate, undeniable tool used by high school, college, and professional teams across the country. Today we break down some of the data from our recent Mid-Atlantic ProCase event in Richmond, VA. 

Glossary Terms Intro & Links:

Induced Vertical Break: VB or IVB
Vertical Approach Angle: VAA 
Horizontal Break: HB
Release Speed: RS or Velo
Release Height: RH or RelHei




Fastball: Averaged out at 91.4 mph with 2,334 rpm. Touched 92.7 and had a fastball as high as 2,456 rpm but he threw the pitch at 1:00, so it only had just 16.7 inches of VB, a touch lower than the 17.9 inches of VB he averaged. His highest VB on the day was 19.7 inches, which was thrown at 12:45; the same tilt the majority of his pitches were thrown at. His flattest VAA on the day was thrown about an inch above the zone, at 3.8 degrees. His release height on average was 5.66 feet, which combined with the above average vertical movement and decent velocity gives him a flat angle on the pitch and bat-missing shape.


Slider: Gyro heavy pitch. Low spin efficiency pitch thrown around 78 mph with 1,976 rpm, -4.4 inches of VB to go with -2.2 inches of HB. Threw it between 5:15 and 8:00 which is an extremely loose distribution. Movement on the only clockwise slider he threw was -1.4 inches of VB, and 0.5 of HB. Majority of his tilts came between 6:15 and 6:45 with negative HB and negative VB. Having heavy gyro spin gives the pitch later movement.


Changeup: Elite movement. Threw it 90 minutes laterally from the fastball which gives it a massive difference movement-wise with a 7.4 mph difference between the pitches. Threw it for a strike 50% of the time with 17.1 inches of HB, and just 5.7 inches of VB. Having such a high variation of movement from his fastball helps with limiting hitters from getting hits off of mishits, which can be the case for guess hitters or high bat speed/steep VBA swing paths.



 

Fastball: Sat on average at 89.2 mph with 1,738 rpm, 12.0 inches of VB, 13.3 inches of HB while throwing it for a strike 33% of the time. Had low release height of 5.35 with the flattest in-zone VAA coming 1.6 inches from the bottom of the zone, and 0.4 inches from the up; 4.8 degrees. Throws his fastball between 1:15 and 2:00, but largely 1:30 and 1:45, so he gets equal back/side spin with a primary-sinker look. A 1:30 tilt for righties is the dead-zone for movement (not ideal) as you get very similar vertical/horizontal movement. Ideally, a right-handed pitcher would want his fastball to be between 1:45 and 2:30 (sinker) or 12:30 and 1:15 (four-seam), with the latter being a much more effective option.


Curveball: True slurve. Blend of side, gyro, and top spin. Threw it in the zone 100% of the time with most of his tilts at 8:15 and 8:30, though he did have one at 9:30. Which had the best single-pitch movement of 1.5 VB, -7.2 HB. Threw the pitch at 75.3 with 1,772 rpm. Because the pitch is thrown fairly hard relative to other curveballs, and glove striked so often; it plays better than the movement would suggest.


Changeup: Elite movement. Just 2.7 inches of VB (less equals better) with 19.1 inches of HB. Tilts ranged from 2:30 to 3:00, and the 3:00 had negative VB with 18.9 inches of HB; which is quite a fun pitch. Didn’t throw the pitch for a strike. Changeups are the hardest pitch to evaluate off of data, so throwing it for a strike is much more important to do. 




 

Fastball: Thrown on average at 88.1 mph, touched 90.5 from the left-side. Threw it for a strike 22.2% of the time. Tilts ranged from 10:30 to 11:15 with 17.7 inches of VB, and -9.8 inches of HB to go with 2,060 rpm. Has a unique profile in the sense that he’s 6’6 and throws from a 5.57 release height. He checks all the boxes metrically with high velocity, good vertical movement, and a low release all from the left-side. As long as he throws it for strikes, it’s a plus pitch.


Curveball: Sweeper profile, basically a hybrid slider/curveball. Majority side spin with heavy gyro at 3:15. Threw it in the zone 40% of the time. His best curveball was thrown at 3:00, getting 0.5 inches of VB with 10 inches of HB. Throws it at 70.4 mph with 2,294 rpm. Had one pitch with 2,422 rpm which he threw at 3:30 with -3.5 inches of VB and 14.4 inches of HB.


Changeup: Thrown with similar tilt as his fastball, just 30 minutes laterally. So he averaged 0.2 more inches of VB with 4.9 more inches of HB. Didn’t throw it for a strike. Release height is oddly similar to his fastball one, just 0.03 feet lower. Most changeups are anywhere from 0.2 to 0.4 feet lower as you pronate more on changeups and release later, which makes Dickerson’s ability to keep similar releases very unique.