Prep Baseball Report

St. Louis Open: TrackMan Files


By: Diego Solares
Area Scout, Illinois & Missouri

On Wednesday, June 15, the PBR Illinois and PBR Missouri staffs collaborated to host the annual St. Louis Open at the Billiken Sports Center on the campus of Saint Louis University. This event regularly allows both us an opportunity to check in on players from the Greater Metro region, including prospects that attend from central and southern Illinois.

To see which players attended, as well as all of the statistics from this event, click HERE.

We recently rolled out the Stat Story from this event, highlighting which players found themselves atop the leaderboards from this event. Today, with the help of our tech partners, we'll dive deeper into the numbers collected by analyzing the pitch metrics and batted ball data captured throughout the day.

Read below to see which prospects' popped from a data standpoint on our TrackMan units.

MAX FASTBALL & PEAK SPIN RATE

Rank Name State School Class Pos Velocity (max)
1 Ronnie Willenbrink MO Affton 2023 RHP 86.6 mph
2 Henry Kufa IL Carlinville 2023 SS 83.1 mph
3 Cole Evans MO Timberland 2023 RHP 82.9 mph
4 Noah Arnold IL Harrisburg 2024 RHP 82.3 mph
5 Hayden Gilmore MO KENNETT HIGH 2025 1B 82.2 mph
6 Zack Boland MO Parkway West 2023 LHP 81.1 mph
7 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 80.0 mph
8 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 80.0 mph
9 John Hilpert IL Belleville West 2025 RHP 79.7 mph
10 Tommy Kramkowski IL Belleville East 2025 RHP 79.5 mph

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (max)
1 Ronnie Willenbrink MO Affton 2023 RHP 2236 rpm
2 Zack Boland MO Parkway West 2023 LHP 2184 rpm
3 Tommy Kramkowski IL Belleville East 2025 RHP 2154 rpm
4 Henry Kufa IL Carlinville 2023 SS 2139 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 Ronnie Willenbrink MO Affton 2023 RHP 18.2
2 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP -11.9
3 Drew Messey MO Westminster Christian 2026 SS 11.5

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 John Hilpert IL Belleville West 2025 RHP 2500
2 Tommy Kramkowski IL Belleville East 2025 RHP 2148

Average Curveball Spin Rate

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 John Hilpert IL Belleville West 2025 RHP 2592 rpm
2 Zack Boland MO Parkway West 2023 LHP 2468 rpm
3 Ronnie Willenbrink MO Affton 2023 RHP 2362 rpm
4 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 2315 rpm
5 Henry Kufa IL Carlinville 2023 SS 2268 rpm

Average Changeup Horizontal Movement

Rank Name State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 Drew Messey MO Westminster Christian 2026 SS 14.2
2 Jackson Ryan MO Wentzville Liberty 2026 2B 13.3
3 Cole Evans MO Timberland 2023 RHP 13.2
4 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP -13.1

Average Exit Velocity (Hitting)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (avg)
1 Caden Paxton MO Windsor 2023 C 86.2 mph
2 Eric Williams MO Fort Zumwalt East 2024 SS 86.0 mph
3 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 84.9 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 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 94.8 mph
2 Kaden Kinsler MO Elsberry 2023 CF 93.2 mph
3 Eric Williams MO Fort Zumwalt East 2024 SS 93.0 mph
4 Luke Isaacs IL Freeburg 2023 MIF 92.6 mph
5 Jake Stedman IL Belleville West 2024 SS 92.1 mph
6 Caden Paxton MO Windsor 2023 C 91.9 mph
7 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 90.7 mph

Peak Estimated Batted Distance (Hitting)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Caden Paxton MO Windsor 2023 C 347 ft
2 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 342 ft
3 Joseph Bline WI J.I. Case 2024 1B 337 ft
4 Kaden Kinsler MO Elsberry 2023 CF 334 ft
5 Luke Isaacs IL Freeburg 2023 MIF 330 ft
6 John Hilpert IL Belleville West 2025 RHP 323 ft
7 Ethan Weber MO Rockwood Summit 2023 1B 319 ft
8 Gavin Mabe MO Union 2024 C 315 ft

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