On Feb. 22, the PBR Illinois staff hosted the Peoria Preseason ID at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria, Ill. This event featured over 60 prospects, all of whom are Illinois natives, and allowed our staff the opportunity to get an in-depth look at the players in attendance.

Monday, we published our Takeaways from the event. Tuesday, we broke down the top measurable data performers from the event with our Statistical Analysis. Today, we will take a further in-depth look at the top pitchers players with the help of our tech partnerships, broken down by the categories down below:

TRACKMAN

FASTBALL

VELOCITY (MAX)

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Velocity (max)
1	Tanner Spangler	IL	Morton	2024	RHP	88.1 mph
2	Ben Carnahan	IL	Normal University	2024	OF	87.1 mph
3	Gavin Lawrence	IL	Washington	2025	2B	86.7 mph
4	Jake Branch	IL	Normal Community	2024	RHP	85.4 mph
5	Korbin Woerly	IL	Canton	2024	SS	85.2 mph
6	Enrico Veach	IL	Springfield	2024	SS	85.0 mph
7	Andrew Dawson	IL	Tremont	2026	RHP	84.8 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 efficiencies. 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 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%

 

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CURVEBALL

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

 

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SLIDER

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

 

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CHANGEUP

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

 

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+ CLICK HERE for a look at the complete statistics from the event.

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