This past Sunday, the Prep Baseball Arizona staff hosted it's fourth and final preseason event with the annual Mesa Preseason ID hosted at Desert Ridge High School in Mesa, Arizona. It was a large group that turned out in Mesa to help us close the page on the preseason schedule as we had 55+ uncommitted prospects on-hand from the 2025 - 2028 classes and allowed players a chance to update their metrics and profiles, showcasing their offseason gains ahead of the 2025 high school season.

We had plenty of big-time performances and metrics posted on the mound and with the bat and we're excited to begin breaking down all of the different data collected through our tech partners TrackMan, VALD Performance, Blast Motion and Vizual Edge.

Yesterday we began our post-event coverage within our Statistical Analysis article. Today, we'll continue our event coverage within this Pitching Data Dive article as we bring you the top pitching data collected during gameplay on Sunday.

For complete event results, click here.
To view Arizona's Class of 2025 Commitment Board, click here.

To request an invite to the Phoenix Rising Stars ID (Mar. 15), click here.
To request an invite to the Phoenix Rising Stars ID - Session 2 (Apr. 5), click here.
To register for the Mesa Rising Stars ID (Apr. 26), click here.

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FASTBALL

MAX VELOCITY (MPH)

Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.

SPIN RATE (AVG)

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.

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

Induced Vertical Break: Used in short form as "IVB," this metric is most important on fastballs for creating rise and on curveballs for creating depth – it can also have some use when measuring sliders and cutters as well. Sliders tend to be closer to zero inches while cutters are generally between 5 and 15 inches. Usually fastballs and curveballs with large IVB have higher spin efficiencies as well. Sliders generally have very little (closer to zero) IVB and very low spin efficiency. You could also categorize IVB into spin rate as this is part of the “useful movement” you’re looking for. IVB is also a huge part of the vertical approach angle.

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

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.”

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

CURVEBALL

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

SLIDER

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

CHANGEUP

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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Upcoming Events

Showcase	State	Date	Location
Phoenix Rising Stars ID - Session 1	AZ	03/15	Grand Canyon University - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Rising Stars ID - Session 2	AZ	04/05	Grand Canyon University - Phoenix, AZ
Mesa Rising Stars ID	AZ	04/26	Mountain View High School - Mesa, AZ

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