Central Illinois Open: Blast Motion Board
August 12, 2021
On Wednesday, Aug. 4, the PBR Illinois staff hosted the Central Illinois Open at the Corn Crib Stadium in Normal, IL. This event was open to all classes and provided our scouting staff with a deeper look at prospects within the Central Illinois area.
Several members of our scouting staff collaborated after the event to provide a brief overview of those who stood out, found inside our Quick Hits piece. We broke down those that topped our statistical leaderboards inside our Stat Story yesterday as well and dove deeper into the data earlier today inside our TrackMan Files piece.
Today, with the help of our Blast Motion sensors, we're analyzing the swing metrics measured from this event.
Hand Speed (Peak & Average)
| Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Hand Speed (max) |
| 1 | Landen Bell | IL | Pekin | 2024 | RHP | 27.0 mph |
| 2 | Braiden Elliott | IL | Tri-Valley | 2022 | OF | 26.7 mph |
| 3 | Connor Drowns | IL | Pekin | 2023 | C | 25.0 mph |
| 4 | Trever Goforth | IL | North Fulton | 2022 | OF | 24.4 mph |
| 5 | Zach Spidle | IL | Bloomington | 2024 | C | 24.3 mph |
| 6 | Jaden Fauske | IL | Nazareth Academy | 2025 | C | 24.1 mph |
| 7 | Kaileb Hackman | IL | Normal Community | 2024 | 3B | 24.0 mph |
| Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Hand Speed (avg) |
| 1 | Braiden Elliott | IL | Tri-Valley | 2022 | OF | 24.6 mph |
| 2 | Landen Bell | IL | Pekin | 2024 | RHP | 24.4 mph |
| 3 | Trever Goforth | IL | North Fulton | 2022 | OF | 23.7 mph |
| 4 | Connor Drowns | IL | Pekin | 2023 | C | 23.5 mph |
| 5 | Jaden Fauske | IL | Nazareth Academy | 2025 | C | 23.1 mph |
| 6 | Blake Roundtree | IL | LeRoy | 2022 | OF | 22.6 mph |
Peak Hand Speed: The observed maximum speed as measured on the handle of the bat (measured six inches from the knob of the bat). Peak Hand Speed will occur prior to the moment of impact, very close to the commit time in the swing when the wrists unhinge.
Bat Speed (Average)
| Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Bat Speed (avg) |
| 1 | Carson Beal | IL | Normal University | 2022 | 1B | 70.8 mph |
| 2 | Tyler Adkins | IL | Metamora | 2022 | 3B | 70.8 mph |
| 3 | Trever Goforth | IL | North Fulton | 2022 | OF | 70.6 mph |
| 4 | Charlie Severino | IL | Pleasant Plains | 2025 | MIF | 69.1 mph |
| 5 | Charlie Vercruysse | IL | Normal University | 2024 | SS | 68.5 mph |
| 6 | Blake Roundtree | IL | LeRoy | 2022 | OF | 68.5 mph |
Bat Speed: The observed speed of the sweet spot of the bat at impact. The sweet spot of the bat is measured six inches from the tip of the bat.
Rotational Acceleration (Peak & Average)
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Rot. Acc (max)
1
Connor Drowns
IL
Pekin
2023
C
30.4 g
2
Braiden Elliott
IL
Tri-Valley
2022
OF
30.0 g
3
Landen Bell
IL
Pekin
2024
RHP
26.6 g
4
Wandel Campana
IL
Havana High School
2022
SS
26.3 g
5
Zach Spidle
IL
Bloomington
2024
C
25.3 g
6
Charlie Severino
IL
Pleasant Plains
2025
MIF
22.7 g
| Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Rot. Acc (avg) |
| 1 | Connor Drowns | IL | Pekin | 2023 | C | 26.7 g |
| 2 | Braiden Elliott | IL | Tri-Valley | 2022 | OF | 23.9 g |
| 3 | Wandel Campana | IL | Havana High School | 2022 | SS | 20.0 g |
| 4 | Landen Bell | IL | Pekin | 2024 | RHP | 19.9 g |
| 5 | Zach Spidle | IL | Bloomington | 2024 | C | 18.1 g |
Body Rotation: A swing that has the appropriate relative contributions of body and bat rotations is an efficient and Powerful swing that maintains proper sequencing. An efficient baseball swing is one in which the body creates the initial movements, which is then transferred to the arms and out to the bat, thereby maximizing Bat Speed through this proximal-to-distal kinematic sequencing movement pattern.
For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcase, CLICK HERE.
RELATED CONTENT