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Preseason All-State Central: Trackman Traits Top Arms (Part 2)

March 19, 2021
Mason McRae
PBR Virginia/DC

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 Preseason All-State Central event in Richmond, VA. See which players stood out in regards to Trackman data. 

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: Ranged from 85.5 to 86.9, topping out at 87.2 with 2,329 rpm on average, the third highest average spin rate on the day. Averaged 19.9 inches of VB, with 11.6 inches of HB. He combines the heavy VB with a low release of 5.20. He’s got a flat VAA thanks to these traits. Players who are both tall, and have low releases are highly coveted; they can, generally speaking, pitch up effectively and also fall in the upper percentile for projecting velo.


Curveball: Release height was half a foot lower on this pitch than his fastball, and also thrown half a foot more sideways (2.1 release side on CB vs 1.6 on fastball/change), this means the pitch comes out at a completely different angle and doesn’t play off his fastball. Was on average 68.0 mph, with 3.5 inches of vertical drop, -10.7 inches of HB, and 1,717 rpm.


Changeup: Thrown at 74.3 mph with 1,054 rpm. Kills spin exceptionally and does a great job pronating. The combination of the two helped him get more HB (15.2 inches) than VB (9.7 inches). Threw it with 1:45 and 2:15.




 

Fastball: Threw it in the zone 66.7% of the time, the second highest on the day. Threw it between 80.8 and 82.0, topped out at 82.8. Had below average raw spin (2,010 rpm), and a somewhat low release of 5.4. Averaged 17.3 inches of VB and 10.8 inches of HB, which gives him a slight combination of side and back spin as well as run and ride.


Curveball: Similar to fastball, threw it for a strike at solid rate (50%). Tilts ranged from 7:30 to 8:15, which would classify as a slurve. Gets near equal vertical (-10.2 inches of VB) and horizontal movement (-15.6 inches of HB) with a combination of side and top spin.


Changeup: Threw it in the zone 100% of the time which is the most important part of a changeup, feel. Combined the command of the pitch with decent movement (13.4 inches of VB, 13.5 inches of HB) at a 1:30 tilt. It was on average 8.2 mph slower than his fastball with 454 less rpm.

Slider: A slightly harder version curveball at 70.1 mph. Raw spin rates just a touch down at 1,913 rpm. He threw two “sliders” at 8:00 with similar movement to curveball but then threw a hybrid slider/cutter at 10:00, getting some lift (2.5 inches of VB), and slight HB (-4.3 inches of HB). I’d like to see him throw the 10:00 slider more consistently on top of the curveball. Threw it in the zone at 33.3%.


Splitter: Had just one splitter, with a touch more raw spin (1,794 rpm) than his changeup and a touch harder at 77.1 mph. Didn’t throw it for a strike. Trackman didn’t track the movement on the lone pitch, but he threw it at a 1:15 tilt which likely means he had a touch more vertical than horizontal break. 




Fastball: Sat at 81.0 mph ranging from 80.1 and 82.6 and 83.2 mph. Had third highest VB on the day with 21.2 inches of VB and had very little run (8.2 inches of HB). Threw it for strike 16.7%. Had an extremely low release height of 4.3, which gave him an extremely flat VAA.


Curveball: Averaged 2,228 rpm, 67.5 mph, -4.3 inches of VB, and -11.4 inches of HB. Consistently threw it at 8:00 and 8:15. The large gap between his fastball and curveball’s velocity might enable it to play a touch better as well.


Changeup: Had just one changeup, and threw it for a strike. It was at 75.1 mph with a 12:45 tilt, but trackman didn’t track the movement. Given the vertical tilt, it had primary backspin with a touch of side spin. Had 1,315 rpm on the pitch.