Prep Baseball Report

Preseason All-State: Underclass TrackMan Files


Kevin Cronin
Tech Analyst, Area Scout

On Feb. 26, the PBR Illinois staff hosted the Preseason All-State: Underclass showcase at The MAX in McCook, Ill., featuring many of the state’s top players inside both the 2024 and 2025 classes. This event helped our staff gain a clearer picture of the on-the-rise underclassmen in Illinois, and we’ll begin to break down the excellent thoroughly today and throughout the week. Inside today’s Quick Hits post, we’re highlighting the best of the best – the talent that exited the event as with arrows pointed way up headed into the spring.

Earlier this week we published Quick Hits highlighting the top prospects of the event by class. We also rolled out a Statistical Analysis pointing out the top recorded stats by category.

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 State School Class Pos Velocity (max)
1 Ryan Sloan IL York 2024 RHP 91.7 mph
2 Xavier Crowder IL Proviso West 2025 SS 90.7 mph
3 Wyatt Mammen IL Lincoln 2024 RHP 89.9 mph
4 Malachi Paplanus IL Huntley 2024 RHP 89.3 mph
5 Luke Teschke IL Monticello 2024 RHP 88.1 mph
6 Luke Weber IL Highland Park 2024 RHP 87.9 mph
7 Tom Ford IL Lisle 2024 RHP 87.1 mph
8 Casey Giemzik IL Brother Rice 2024 RHP 86.5 mph
9 Cole Noreuil IL Delavan 2024 RHP 86.5 mph
10 Daniel Cercello IL Neuqua Valley 2024 RHP 86.4 mph

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (max)
1 Jackson Natanek IL Brother Rice 2025 SS 2573 rpm
2 Xavier Crowder IL Proviso West 2025 SS 2489 rpm
3 Tom Ford IL Lisle 2024 RHP 2471 rpm
4 Casey Giemzik IL Brother Rice 2024 RHP 2396 rpm
5 Tanner Spangler IL Morton 2024 RHP 2346 rpm
6 Luke Teschke IL Monticello 2024 RHP 2312 rpm
7 Malachi Paplanus IL Huntley 2024 RHP 2311 rpm
8 Trevor Rehnstrom IL Glenbard East 2024 RHP 2299 rpm
9 David Cox IL Nazareth Academy 2024 SS 2282 rpm
10 Zach Baka IL Montini Catholic 2025 RHP 2243 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 State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 AJ Putty IL Huntley 2025 1B 17.8
2 Ethan Eberle IL Normal Community 2024 LHP -16.3
3 Daniel Cercello IL Neuqua Valley 2024 RHP 15.6
4 Ryan Sloan IL York 2024 RHP 15.4
5 Benjamin Mitchell IL Harvest Christian 2025 C 14.6
6 Cooper Marrs IL Riverside-Brookfield 2024 OF 13.6
7 Talan Hull IL Galva 2025 OF -13.3
8 David Cox IL Nazareth Academy 2024 SS 13.3

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 State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Casey Giemzik IL Brother Rice 2024 RHP 2609
2 Jackson Natanek IL Brother Rice 2025 SS 2592
3 Tom Ford IL Lisle 2024 RHP 2236
4 Ryan Sloan IL York 2024 RHP 2173
5 Tanner Spangler IL Morton 2024 RHP 2153

AVERAGE CURVEBALL SPIN RATE

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Xavier Crowder IL Proviso West 2025 SS 2686 rpm
2 Casey Giemzik IL Brother Rice 2024 RHP 2478 rpm
3 Malachi Paplanus IL Huntley 2024 RHP 2473 rpm
4 Enzo Infelise IL Providence Catholic 2025 C 2305 rpm
5 Trevor Rehnstrom IL Glenbard East 2024 RHP 2255 rpm
6 Tanner Spangler IL Morton 2024 RHP 2255 rpm

AVERAGE CHANGEUP HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

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AVERAGE EXIT VELOCITY (HITTING)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (avg)
1 Randall Nauden IL Brother Rice 2024 C 92.5 mph
2 Jaden Obaldo IL Crystal Lake Central 2024 2B 91.3 mph
3 Charlie Meister IL Hersey 2025 SS 91.1 mph
4 Kenny Perez IL De La Salle 2024 SS 91.0 mph
5 Aidan Nohava IL Brother Rice 2025 3B 90.9 mph
6 Peter Visconti II WI St. Joseph Catholic Academy 2025 C 90.8 mph
7 Nate Harris IL Yorkville 2024 SS 90.1 mph
8 Jackson Petsche IL Oswego East 2024 1B 90.0 mph
9 Jimmy Anderson IL Joliet West 2024 SS 89.6 mph
10 AJ Putty IL Huntley 2025 1B 89.6 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 State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (max)
1 Keenan Oldani IL South Elgin 2024 OF 101.0 mph
2 Ryan Sloan IL York 2024 RHP 99.1 mph
3 David Cox IL Nazareth Academy 2024 SS 98.8 mph
4 Randall Nauden IL Brother Rice 2024 C 98.7 mph
5 James Love IL Joliet West 2024 3B 98.5 mph
6 Cash Campbell IL Montini Catholic 2024 3B 97.8 mph
7 Jackson Petsche IL Oswego East 2024 1B 97.5 mph
8 Enzo Infelise IL Providence Catholic 2025 C 97.4 mph
9 Henry Murray IL Lane Technical High School 2025 OF 97.4 mph
10 Peter Visconti II WI St. Joseph Catholic Academy 2025 C 97.3 mph

PEAK ESTIMATED BATTED DISTANCE (HITTING)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Peter Visconti II WI St. Joseph Catholic Academy 2025 C 362 ft
2 Henry Murray IL Lane Technical High School 2025 OF 360 ft
3 Benjamin Mitchell IL Harvest Christian 2025 C 352 ft
4 Kenny Perez IL De La Salle 2024 SS 351 ft
5 Xavier Crowder IL Proviso West 2025 SS 346 ft

For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcase, CLICK HERE.

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