On Sunday, October 16, the PBR Illinois staff hosted the Underclass Showcase at The MAX in McCook, Illinois. The event featured just under 70 players from the 2025-2026 grad classed and brought together some of the most talented underclass prospects in the state.

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. Today, we're going to continue breaking down the takeaways from the event by diving deeper into all of the data we collected at the showcase in the form of our Data Dive.

TRACKMAN

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 data.

MAX FASTBALL VELOCITY & AVERAGE SPIN RATE

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Velocity (max)
1	Anthony Karbowski	IL	Hampshire	2025	LHP	87.0 mph
2	Bryce Loeger	IL	Conant	2024	RHP	86.2 mph
3	Carter Bleakney	IL	Central High School	2025	OF	84.5 mph
4	Keegan Luxem	IL	Hersey	2025	RHP	84.5 mph
5	Ethan Bass	IL	Glenbrook North	2026	SS	83.5 mph
6	Mason Jurewicz	IL	New Trier	2025	RHP	82.8 mph
7	Brock Fearday	IL	St. Anthony	2025	RHP	82.4 mph
8	Donovan Christman	IL	McHenry	2025	OF	81.5 mph
9	David Leung	IL	Hinsdale Central	2025	LHP	81.5 mph
10	Ethan Faith	IL	Jacobs	2025	RHP	81.1 mph

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Spin Rate (avg)
1	Ethan Bass	IL	Glenbrook North	2026	SS	2513 rpm
2	Mason Jurewicz	IL	New Trier	2025	RHP	2479 rpm
3	Anthony Karbowski	IL	Hampshire	2025	LHP	2369 rpm
4	Keegan Luxem	IL	Hersey	2025	RHP	2262 rpm
5	Charlie Taczy	IL	Cary-Grove	2025	RHP	2240 rpm
6	Chase Lockwood	IL	Libertyville	2026	RHP	2232 rpm
7	Nico Harper	IL	Libertyville	2026	LHP	2217 rpm
8	Brock Fearday	IL	St. Anthony	2025	RHP	2129 rpm
9	Danny Morinec	IL	Lincoln-Way Central High School	2025	SS	2118 rpm
10	Ryan Mirante	IL	South Elgin	2025	1B	2104 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	Carter Bleakney	IL	Central High School	2025	OF	19.0
2	Nico Harper	IL	Libertyville	2026	LHP	-16.8
3	Ryan Mirante	IL	South Elgin	2025	1B	-16.6
4	Brady Turner	IL	Routt Catholic	2026	LHP	-15.4
5	Danny Morinec	IL	Lincoln-Way Central High School	2025	SS	15.1
6	Mason Atkins	IL	West Aurora	2026	OF	14.9
7	Danny Kienzle	IL	Lyons Township	2025	LHP	-14.5
8	Andrew Phelps	IL	Lincoln Park	2025	OF	13.1
9	Ethan Faith	IL	Jacobs	2025	RHP	12.9
10	Jordan Shoemaker	IL	Metea Valley High School	2025	OF	12.8

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 CURVEBALL & SLIDER SPIN RATE

AVERAGE CHANGEUP HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

MAX EXIT VELOCITY (HITTING)

MAX DISTANCE (HITTING)

BLAST MOTION

With the help of our Blast Motion sensors, we're analyzing the swing metrics measured at this open showcase.

HAND SPEED (PEAK & AVERAGE)

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)

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)

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.

VIZUAL EDGE

A look at the top Vizual Edge scores from the event.

The Edge Score is a comprehensive score out of 100 that takes the core-six visual skills into account, providing athletes, parents, coaches and scouts with a benchmark number for assessing an athlete’s overall visual ability. In general the higher the Edge Score, the higher chance of athletic success. Think of the Edge Score as the 'Sixth Metric' in the standard Five-Tools that make up a ball player.

The average Edge Score for the 2020 MLB Draft Class was 79.3 (of hitters who completed a Vizual Edge test). MLB players we've worked with typically show stronger scores, with elite hitters scoring consistently above 87.0 on their Edge Score.

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