October 18, 2021
By: Diego Solares
Staff Writer, Associate Scout
On Friday, October 8, the PBR Illinois staff traveled to Moline, Illinois, to host the Black Hawk College Scout Day on the school’s campus. Roughly 30 prospects showcased their talents in front of our scouting staff throughout the day’s workout portion.
Earlier today we published a Statistical Analysis, bringing you a quick statistical analysis of those that participated in the event, as well as a quick nugget on which players stood out.
Now we'll continue to roll out the data we gathered from this event, starting with the analytics we have at our disposal from our TrackMan units. Below we'll look at which players had noteworthy batted ball and pitch metric data.
MAX FASTBALL & PEAK SPIN RATE
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Velocity (max) 1 Kale Ven Huizen Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 RHP 90.4 mph 2 Payton Lawrence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 RHP 86.3 mph 3 Lucas Spence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 OF 86.0 mph 4 Jack Savitch Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 RHP 85.1 mph 5 Seth West Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 RHP 85.0 mph 6 Payton Plym Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 RHP 84.9 mph Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (max) 1 Jack Savitch Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 RHP 2429 rpm 2 Kale Ven Huizen Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 RHP 2394 rpm 3 Alex Heckroth Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 RHP 2275 rpm 4 Justin Egan Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 RHP 2272 rpm 5 Lucas Spence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 OF 2232 rpm
Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.
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.
Average Fastball Horizontal Movement
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos HM (avg) 1 Giacomo O'Neill Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 LHP -18.3 2 Charlie Cmiel Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 LHP -16.7 3 Alex Heckroth Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 RHP 12.3
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.”
Average Slider Spin Rate
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (avg) 1 Lucas Spence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 OF 2492 2 Grant Baker Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 RHP 2390 3 Alex Heckroth Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 RHP 2285 4 Ever Jens Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 RHP 2226 5 Brad Niedzwiedz Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 LHP 2211
Average Curveball Spin Rate
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (avg) 1 Lucas Spence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 OF 2679 rpm 2 Alex Heckroth Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 RHP 2459 rpm 3 Gavin Sebby Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 RHP 2371 rpm 4 Payton Plym Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 RHP 2339 rpm 5 Kale Ven Huizen Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 RHP 2244 rpm
Average Changeup Horizontal Movement
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos HM (avg) 1 Payton Lawrence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 RHP 16.2 2 Ely Adams Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 3B 15.7 3 Giacomo O'Neill Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 LHP -15.3 4 Payton Plym Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 RHP 14.8
Average Exit Velocity (Hitting)
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Exit Velocity (avg) 1 Lucas Spence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 OF 91.5 mph 2 Brandon Roth Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 OF 90.9 mph 3 Chance Resetich Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 SS 87.6 mph 4 Tucker Cole Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 SS 87.5 mph 5 Ely Adams Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 3B 87.4 mph
Exit Speed: Also according to TrackMan’s own website: “The speed of the ball, measured in miles per hour, as it comes off the bat at the moment of contact.”
Peak Exit Velocity (Hitting)
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Exit Velocity (max) 1 Brandon Roth Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 OF 98.8 mph 2 Chance Resetich Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 SS 98.0 mph 3 Lucas Spence Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 OF 97.3 mph 4 Charlie Allison Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 3B 95.6 mph 5 AJ Urban Black Hawk JC-Moline 2021 1B 94.7 mph
Peak Estimated Batted Distance (Hitting)
Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Distance (max) 1 Chance Resetich Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 SS 372 ft 2 Charlie Allison Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 3B 360 ft 3 Ely Adams Black Hawk JC-Moline 2019 3B 336 ft 4 Vincent Esposito Black Hawk JC-Moline 2020 1B 333 ft
For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcase, CLICK HERE.
