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Preseason All-State East: Trackman Traits Top Pitches

March 12, 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 Freshmen Free Central event in Richmond, VA. 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



 

Kenneth Schaedel’s slider: Thrown at 9:15, with decent velocity on it (73.8 mph on average) and one of the more optimal movement profiles. This would classify as a true sweeping slider. He got very little IVB (just 1.6 inches on average) and heavy HB (-11.1 inches on average). Only averaged 2,185 rpm of raw spin on it, but the majority of the spin is useful, gyro spin.




 

Ethan Blakeney’s changeup: Spin rate was just 126 rpm lower on his change than his fastball, but we know this doesn’t correlate much to a better or worse changeup. Ethan was the only player to throw a changeup with both 16 or more inches of IVB, and HB. He threw the pitch at 1:15 and 1:45, and both pitches had heavy HB, and the more vertical axis had 20.1 inches of IVB. He also threw the pitch at 76.2 mph. Having so much movement at a highish velocity makes it a really tough pitch. 



 

Tanner Schaedel’s fastball: Sat around 76-77, touching 78.3 with low release height of 5.42. He threw his fastball for a strike 46.2% of the time. Tilts ranged from 12:45 to 1:15, the fastballs at 12:45 had about two more inches of IVB than his average fastball thrown which had 19.7 inches. His lowest VAA was 4.8 degrees, but thrown for a ball, so his best VAA on a pitch in the zone was 5.1 degrees. Averaged 1,849 raw spin and 25 bauer units. His highest single pitch IVB was 23.2 inches, only four players on the day threw a pitch with more vertical movement.