Prep Baseball Report

Trackman Hitting Leaders: Preseason All State West


Matt Payne
Director of Scouting, PBR of NC

On Sunday January 29th PBR of North Carolina hosted its second of four Preseason All State Events at the Athletes Lab Performance Center in Maiden, NC. The Preseason All State Events have become the premier winter event in NC featuring some of the top talent from across the state. The events feature players from the 2023-2026 grad classes. 

The day started with pitchers throwing a controlled bullpen with Trackman collecting advanced analytics. After the bullpens, players went outside to the 100 yard turf field to have their running and jumping metrics tested. Then catchers, infielders, and outfielders went through a defensive evaluation. The day concluded with hitters taking batting practice in the open cage with Trackman collecting ball flight data. 

Below we begin our breakdown of the players in attendance. Look for more information to follow in the coming days. 

Click Here to see full roster and stats

Trackman Leaders

PEAK EXIT VELOCITY

TrackMan is able to track every ball hit into fair territory, throughout the BP sessions.  Below are the exit velocities produced by individual players.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (max)
1 Drake Tucker NC Bandys 2025 3B 97.8 mph
2 Trey Spees NC East Lincoln 2024 3B 95.0 mph
3 Hunter Huneycutt NC Pinecrest 2023 C 94.3 mph
4 Cade Gardner NC A.C. Reynolds 2024 SS 91.5 mph
5 Ellis Chappell NC Hickory 2025 OF 90.0 mph
6 Tate Jensen NC Jimmy C. Draughn 2025 LHP 89.6 mph
7 Hank Matthews NC Watauga 2025 CF 88.1 mph
8 Hayden Ashby NC Cox Mill 2024 1B 87.5 mph
9 Peter Boatwright NC Christ School 2025 RHP 86.7 mph
10 Jack Kerley McGrath NC Charlotte Christian 2026 C 86.6 mph

AVERAGE EXIT VELOCITY

The average exit velocity measures a players ability to consistently produce hard contact.  The average was taken based on every ball tracked by TrackMan throughout the player's BP session.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (avg)
1 Drake Tucker NC Bandys 2025 3B 90.8 mph
2 Trey Spees NC East Lincoln 2024 3B 89.9 mph
3 Cade Gardner NC A.C. Reynolds 2024 SS 86.9 mph
4 Hunter Huneycutt NC Pinecrest 2023 C 84.0 mph
5 Peter Boatwright NC Christ School 2025 RHP 81.1 mph
6 Ellis Chappell NC Hickory 2025 OF 80.7 mph
7 Hayden Ashby NC Cox Mill 2024 1B 78.8 mph
8 Jack Kerley McGrath NC Charlotte Christian 2026 C 78.7 mph
9 Tate Jensen NC Jimmy C. Draughn 2025 LHP 78.2 mph
10 Jayden Overcash NC Hough 2026 3B 77.9 mph

PEAK DISTANCE

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Trey Spees NC East Lincoln 2024 3B 330 ft
2 Hunter Huneycutt NC Pinecrest 2023 C 320 ft
3 Cade Gardner NC A.C. Reynolds 2024 SS 305 ft
4 Drake Tucker NC Bandys 2025 3B 303 ft
5 Hank Matthews NC Watauga 2025 CF 300 ft
6 Chad Matthews NC North Lincoln 2025 OF 298 ft
7 Hayden Ashby NC Cox Mill 2024 1B 298 ft
8 Reid Johnson NC South Iredell 2026 C 297 ft
9 Jayden Overcash NC Hough 2026 3B 289 ft
10 Jack Kerley McGrath NC Charlotte Christian 2026 C 277 ft

AVERAGE DISTANCE

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (avg)
1 Trey Spees NC East Lincoln 2024 3B 197 ft
2 Peter Boatwright NC Christ School 2025 RHP 192 ft
3 Cade Gardner NC A.C. Reynolds 2024 SS 191 ft
4 David Pastusic NC Watauga 2026 1B 190 ft
5 Jayden Overcash NC Hough 2026 3B 189 ft
6 Hank Matthews NC Watauga 2025 CF 184 ft
7 Hunter Huneycutt NC Pinecrest 2023 C 172 ft
8 Jack Kerley McGrath NC Charlotte Christian 2026 C 169 ft
9 Chad Matthews NC North Lincoln 2025 OF 161 ft
10 Drake Tucker NC Bandys 2025 3B 158 ft

HARD HIT PERCENTAGE

TrackMan is able to track and follow exit velocities of each hitter.  Based on the individual's top exit velocity, TrackMan is able to give us a percentage of hard hit balls.  This percentage is based off of each individual hitter's top exit velocity.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Hard Hit %
1 Trey Spees NC East Lincoln 2024 3B 64 %
2 Drake Tucker NC Bandys 2025 3B 63 %
3 Cade Gardner NC A.C. Reynolds 2024 SS 33 %
4 Hunter Huneycutt NC Pinecrest 2023 C 25 %
5 Ellis Chappell NC Hickory 2025 OF 7 %

LAUNCH ANGLE PERCENTAGE

Based on the ball flight, TrackMan is able to identify each hit as a ground ball, line drive, or fly ball.  While there are many factors as to why a hitter may approach each pitch in a certain way, the overall groupings of BP can give some insight to each hitter's approach.

Line Drive %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Line Drive %
1 Trey Spees NC East Lincoln 2024 3B 71 %
2 Peter Boatwright NC Christ School 2025 RHP 66 %
3 David Pastusic NC Watauga 2026 1B 64 %
4 Jayden Overcash NC Hough 2026 3B 61 %
5 Cade Gardner NC A.C. Reynolds 2024 SS 58 %
6 Jimmy Newman NC Charlotte Catholic 2026 SS 50 %
7 Chad Matthews NC North Lincoln 2025 OF 45 %
8 Hank Matthews NC Watauga 2025 CF 38 %
9 Hunter Huneycutt NC Pinecrest 2023 C 37 %
10 Drake Tucker NC Bandys 2025 3B 36 %
^ Tate Jensen NC Jimmy C. Draughn 2025 LHP 36 %

Ground Ball %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Ground Ball %
1 Sam Beck NC High Point Christian 2024 SS 83 %
2 Blake Brown NC Independence 2026 LHP 71 %
3 Cason McGinnis NC North Lincoln 2026 SS 66 %
4 Carter Helein NC Pine Lake Prep 2024 2B 64 %
5 Drake Tucker NC Bandys 2025 3B 54 %
6 Hayden Ashby NC Cox Mill 2024 1B 53 %
7 Caden Nolan NC Richmond Senior 2026 3B 50 %
8 Ellis Chappell NC Hickory 2025 OF 46 %
9 Tate Jensen NC Jimmy C. Draughn 2025 LHP 45 %
10 Reid Johnson NC South Iredell 2026 C 44 %

Fly Ball %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Fly Ball %
1 Caden Nolan NC Richmond Senior 2026 3B 41.7 %
^ Jack Kerley McGrath NC Charlotte Christian 2026 C 41.7 %
2 Hank Matthews NC Watauga 2025 CF 38.5 %
3 Chad Matthews NC North Lincoln 2025 OF 36.4 %
4 Jimmy Newman NC Charlotte Catholic 2026 SS 33.3 %
5 Nicholas Goodrum NC West Forsyth 2026 OF 30.0 %
6 David Pastusic NC Watauga 2026 1B 28.6 %
7 Hunter Huneycutt NC Pinecrest 2023 C 25.0 %
8 Hayden Ashby NC Cox Mill 2024 1B 23.1 %
^ Ellis Chappell NC Hickory 2025 OF 23.1 %
9 Reid Johnson NC South Iredell 2026 C 22.2 %
10 Tate Jensen NC Jimmy C. Draughn 2025 LHP 18.2 %