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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 Mid-Atlantic Orioles Scout Day. See which players stood out in regards to Trackman data. 

Glossary Terms Intro & Links:

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

The Top Pitchers:

Fastball: Throwing from a vertical slot, he’s able to get a natural vertical axis (was around 12:30/12:45) on his FB and create heavy ride thanks to his ability to pulldown/pronate on the pitch and raise his efficiency. He averaged 21.1 inches of VB while sitting on average at 82.4 mph, hitting 84.3 mph with an average spin rate of 2,096 pm. He had 18 or more inches of carry on every FB, and had 8 or more inches of HB on all but two. 

 

Curveball: Throws it hard, at 70.7 mph. Creates a ton of gyro spin, which leads to a lower efficiency and less movement. He’s getting slightly more depth than lateral movement due to his tilt being right around 7:00, which falls into the CB range, but it plays closer to a SL because of it’s spin efficiency. Because he’s creating a heavy amount of gyro, the observed axis probably deviates a touch vertical, roughly 15/30 minutes. Meaning his spin-based (how trackman interprets the pitch) movement doesn’t paint the entire picture and there might be some sort of a seam-shifted wake effect (when the spin direction of the pitch changes in the last 15 feet) on the pitch.

 

Changeup: Threw it in the zone. Has a similar shape to the FB, just with slightly less movement due to the bauer units of the pitch being lower. Has heavy backspin with very little side spin and averaged 17.3 inches of VB at 72.3 mph.

 

Fastball: Has slightly below average spin, but does a good job of creating backspin which helps optimize the shape and create 20.7 inches of VB. His release height was just below the event average, and he was on average, sitting at 79.9 mph, hitting 81.5 mph. The most amount of VB on a pitch was 24.4 inches, which was the highest of any pitch at the event. This came on a pitch with a 12:15 tilt, which was 30 minutes vertical from his average tilt of 12:45. Meaning he’s able to push his axis vertical without suffering total movement thanks to a feel for pronating.

 

Curveball: Above average spin at 2,333 rpm. Throws from 8:15 to 8:45 and creates plus sweep in the form of 18.9 inches of HB, with -4.3 inches of VB. Threw it in the zone often at 60%, and threw it hard at 68.1 mph. He created the most HB of any breaking ball and even had 21.1 inches of HB on one pitch with another just above 20”.

 

Changeup: Near identical shape to the FB, thrown at 12:45 as well. Trackman didn’t pick up movement on it, but given the bauer units of the pitch being 4 points lower and his natural feel for pronation/supination. The pitch likely had about 18 or so inches of VB with 7 inches of HB. There’s a 10 mph differential from his FB.  

The Top Pitches:

 

Hunter Fallen’s slider: Plays like a hybrid slider/curveball and classifies as a true sweeper. Has plus-spin at 2,584 pm and throws it from exactly 9:00 while being able to kill lift on the pitch and get to the side to create gyro spin in the form of supination. 

 

Luke Schwartz’s changeup: Was able to throw it for strikes at 67%, and had a good combination of gyro spin (by killing some of the lift) and HB. Averaged 14.2 inches of HB with 5.7 inches of VB. His shape was consistent due to his tilt being at/around 2:15 on every pitch. It also had a 14.5 inch vertical separation from the FB, which in short means he’s able to optimize both his FB and CH shapes through seam orientation. 

 

Kobe Bristow’s slider: Was the third-hardest SL on the day at 68.8 mph. He not only was able to kill lift, but he was also able to limit true spin. So the majority of his movement came from gyro/side spin. It’s an effective low efficiency pitch that he’s able to make work even with below average spin.