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Mon March 7, 2022
On Feb. 26, the PBR Illinois staff hosted the Preseason All-State: Upperclass 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 state’s junior class, featuring a number of the top uncommitted players inside the state’s Class of 2023. 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.
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Velocity (max) |
1 | Dimitrios Bourmas | IL | Harvard | 2023 | RHP | 91.5 mph |
2 | Adam Behrens | IL | Warren Township | 2023 | RHP | 90.7 mph |
3 | Colin Miller | IL | Hampshire | 2023 | RHP | 90.6 mph |
4 | Drew Zemaitis | IL | Providence Catholic | 2023 | RHP | 90.6 mph |
5 | Michael Belbot | IL | Stevenson | 2023 | RHP | 90.5 mph |
6 | Donald Tober | IL | Timothy Christian | 2023 | RHP | 90.3 mph |
7 | Grant Tenuta | IL | Sandburg | 2023 | RHP | 89.8 mph |
8 | Taylor Waldron | IL | Marquette Academy | 2023 | RHP | 89.7 mph |
9 | Bennett Musser | IL | Mundelein | 2023 | RHP | 89.6 mph |
10 | Hank Liss | IL | Evanston | 2023 | RHP | 89.6 mph |
11 | Gabe Smith | IL | Father McGivney | 2023 | RHP | 89.2 mph |
12 | Ean DiPasquale | IL | Belleville East | 2023 | RHP | 89.0 mph |
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Spin Rate (max)
1
Dimitrios Bourmas
IL
Harvard
2023
RHP
2493 rpm
2
Drew Zemaitis
IL
Providence Catholic
2023
RHP
2481 rpm
3
Vince Waterman
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor
2023
LHP
2472 rpm
4
Finn O'Meara
IL
Nazareth Academy
2023
RHP
2464 rpm
5
Dalton Miller
IL
Quincy Notre Dame
2023
3B
2440 rpm
6
Donald Tober
IL
Timothy Christian
2023
RHP
2436 rpm
7
Colin Tarr
IL
West Aurora
2023
RHP
2416 rpm
8
Hank Liss
IL
Evanston
2023
RHP
2412 rpm
9
Charlie Wolf
IL
St. Ignatius
2023
RHP
2378 rpm
10
TJ Schlageter
IL
Joliet Catholic
2023
LHP
2359 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.
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
HM (avg)
1
Eli Kieser
IL
Normal University
2023
SS
17.7
2
Gabe Smith
IL
Father McGivney
2023
RHP
16.5
3
Dimitrios Bourmas
IL
Harvard
2023
RHP
16.0
4
Colin Miller
IL
Hampshire
2023
RHP
16.0
5
Carter Green
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor
2023
LHP
-15.9
6
Evan Foster
IL
Maroa-Forsyth
2023
LHP
-15.5
7
Dalton Miller
IL
Quincy Notre Dame
2023
3B
14.7
8
Lleyton Grubich
IL
McHenry
2023
LHP
-14.6
9
Jackson Rodgers
IL
Father McGivney
2023
RHP
14.5
10
Evan Nieter
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor
2023
LHP
-14.4
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.”
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Spin Rate (avg)
1
Hank Liss
IL
Evanston
2023
RHP
2740
2
Finn O'Meara
IL
Nazareth Academy
2023
RHP
2606
3
Colin Tarr
IL
West Aurora
2023
RHP
2555
4
Dalton Miller
IL
Quincy Notre Dame
2023
3B
2519
5
Cooper Cohn
IL
McHenry
2023
C
2413
6
Xzavier Vargas
IL
Lyons Township
2023
RHP
2321
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Spin Rate (avg)
1
Colin Tarr
IL
West Aurora
2023
RHP
2712 rpm
2
Hank Liss
IL
Evanston
2023
RHP
2602 rpm
3
Drew Zemaitis
IL
Providence Catholic
2023
RHP
2583 rpm
4
Dimitrios Bourmas
IL
Harvard
2023
RHP
2578 rpm
5
Cooper Cohn
IL
McHenry
2023
C
2558 rpm
6
Michael Belbot
IL
Stevenson
2023
RHP
2539 rpm
7
Dylan Mayer
IL
New Trier
2023
LHP
2499 rpm
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
HM (avg)
1
Dimitrios Bourmas
IL
Harvard
2023
RHP
19.9
2
Michael Belbot
IL
Stevenson
2023
RHP
18.6
3
Zachary Kwasny
IL
Lincoln-Way East
2023
RHP
17.1
4
Lucas Foley
IL
Lake Zurich
2023
LHP
-17.1
5
Tommy Haggerty
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor
2023
RHP
16.9
6
Cooper Cohn
IL
McHenry
2023
C
16.2
7
Joe Richardson
IL
Stevenson
2023
LHP
-16.0
8
Finn O'Meara
IL
Nazareth Academy
2023
RHP
15.9
9
Evan Nieter
IL
Homewood-Flossmoor
2023
LHP
-15.7
10
Gabe Smith
IL
Father McGivney
2023
RHP
15.7
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Exit Velocity (avg)
1
Christian Graves
IL
Jacobs
2023
3B
96.5 mph
2
Ryan Niedzwiedz
IL
West Aurora
2023
SS
94.4 mph
3
Gavin Parkerson
IL
Armstrong
2023
RHP
93.8 mph
4
Zachary Kwasny
IL
Lincoln-Way East
2023
RHP
93.2 mph
5
Trey Swiderski
IL
Joliet Catholic
2023
OF
92.7 mph
6
Cooper Cohn
IL
McHenry
2023
C
92.3 mph
7
Danny Rollins
IL
Lake Park
2023
C
92.2 mph
8
Dalton Miller
IL
Quincy Notre Dame
2023
3B
91.6 mph
9
Donald Tober
IL
Timothy Christian
2023
RHP
91.0 mph
10
Mikey Murphy
IL
Minooka
2023
OF
91.0 mph
11
Bryce Nevils
IL
Brother Rice
2023
OF
90.8 mph
12
Luke Stulga
IL
St. Laurence
2023
OF
90.8 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.”
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Exit Velocity (max)
1
Mikey Murphy
IL
Minooka
2023
OF
102.5 mph
2
Ryan Niedzwiedz
IL
West Aurora
2023
SS
101.8 mph
3
Josh Polubinski
IL
Oswego East
2023
3B
101.1 mph
4
Gavin Parkerson
IL
Armstrong
2023
RHP
100.6 mph
^
Christian Graves
IL
Jacobs
2023
3B
100.6 mph
5
Trey Swiderski
IL
Joliet Catholic
2023
OF
100.4 mph
6
Dalton Miller
IL
Quincy Notre Dame
2023
3B
100.2 mph
7
Luka Romic
IN
Lake Central
2023
3B
99.6 mph
8
Zachary Kwasny
IL
Lincoln-Way East
2023
RHP
98.7 mph
9
Sheppard Graf
IL
Lake Forest
2023
3B
98.7 mph
10
Danny Rollins
IL
Lake Park
2023
C
98.2 mph
11
Bryce Nevils
IL
Brother Rice
2023
OF
97.8 mph
12
Luke Stulga
IL
St. Laurence
2023
OF
96.8 mph
13
Rocco Tenuta
IL
St. Francis
2023
SS
96.7 mph
14
Tony Konopiots
IL
Downers Grove North
2023
3B
96.5 mph
15
Gianni Royer
IL
Lake Forest
2023
OF
96.3 mph
Rank
Name
State
School
Class
Pos
Distance (max)
1
Mikey Murphy
IL
Minooka
2023
OF
391 ft
2
Luke Stulga
IL
St. Laurence
2023
OF
371 ft
3
Sheppard Graf
IL
Lake Forest
2023
3B
370 ft
4
Trey Swiderski
IL
Joliet Catholic
2023
OF
363 ft
5
Christian Graves
IL
Jacobs
2023
3B
362 ft
6
Eduardo Letamendi
IL
Von Steuben
2023
SS
359 ft
7
Kaden Griffitts
IL
Williamsville
2023
CF
357 ft
8
Gianni Royer
IL
Lake Forest
2023
OF
356 ft
9
Luka Romic
IN
Lake Central
2023
3B
355 ft
10
Isaiah White
IL
Homewood Flossmoor
2023
OF
355 ft
11
Bryce Nevils
IL
Brother Rice
2023
OF
354 ft
12
Cooper Cohn
IL
McHenry
2023
C
352 ft
For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcase, CLICK HERE.