Welcome to the hitting side of Trackman Traits! We have covered the pitching side of the numbers produced by Trackman, now we will take a bit of a dive into the hitting numbers and break down some of the best uncommitted bats from the Garden State. Beyond looking at the Trackman metrics, or result based metrics, we will be highlighting a few Blast Motion metrics to get a better look into how that player's swing is able to produce the results that is does. Today we will be looking at a 2023 catcher out of Pascack Hills. Billy Mulholland.

Before we get started, we'll go over and define some of the terminology being used in the piece. 

Exit Velocity-  this one's pretty simple but this metric measures the speed of the ball off the bat, measured in miles per hour (MPH).

Distance- another simple one, this metric measures how far the ball traveled or would travel if it was not obstructed, measured in feet.

Launch Angle- measures the vertical angle of the ball as it leaves the bat. Positive numbers represent balls traveling upward off of the bat and negative numbers mean the ball is traveling downward off of the bat. 

Fly Ball %-  Percentage of fly balls hit during a given set of batted ball events. Trackman defines a fly ball as any batted ball with a launch angle between 25 degrees and 49.9 degrees. 

Line Drive%-  Percentage of line drives hit during a given set of batted ball events. Trackman defines a line drive as any batted ball with a launch angle between 10 degrees and 24.9 degrees.

Ground Ball %- Percentage of ground balls hit during a given set of batted ball events. Trackman defines a ground ball as any batted ball with a launch angle below 9.9 degrees. 

Hard Hit%-  Percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity of 90 MPH or higher. 

Bat Speed- The speed of the sweet spot of the bat at impact, measured in MPH. The sweet spot is measured 6 inches from the tip of the bat. - Blast Motion

Hand Speed-  The speed of the handle of the bat just before impact, measured in MPH. The handle us measured 6 inches from the knob of the bat. - Blast Motion

Rotational Acceleration- A measure of how quickly the hitter gets from launch position to being on plane. This is measured in G-Force (g).  - Blast Motion 

On Plane Efficiency %-   A measure of the percentage of your swing that was on the swing plane. -Blast Motion 

 

TRACKMAN DATA ANALYSIS

Billy Mulholland has been to a couple of events this spring, but he really stood out at the NJ Preseason Underclass Invitational. Today, we will be breaking down those numbers.

Exit Velocity- The game today seemingly revolves around velocity. Pitchers are throwing harder than ever and power bats who can hit the ball hard are prioritized. So when we see guys who can hit the ball hard like Mulholland, it will grab some eyes. His max exit velocity during his BP round was 97.2 MPH and his average exit velocity was 92.39 MPH. He found himself at the top of both of those categories at the NJ Underclass Invitational as one of the true standouts offensively during the event.

Distance-  Guys who hit the ball hard usually can hit the ball pretty far as well, and Mulholland is no exception. His furthest hit ball traveled 350 feet, good for 5th among all players at the event. His average distance is not quite as high up the list at 189 feet thanks in part to hitting ground balls 36.4% of the time, pulling down that average a bit.

Batted Ball Percentages- The first number that sticks out to me is the hard hit %. At 72.7%, he shows a clear ability to find the barrel consistently and hit the ball hard. Nobody at the event hit the ball harder more consistently as he Mulholland did. He hit both ground balls and line drives at a 36.4% clip and also hit fly balls 27.3% of the time. 

BLAST CONNECTION

Mulholland put up some big time Trackman numbers, but his Blast metrics are off the charts. Looking first at his bat speed, his fastest bat speed was 80.3 MPH and his average bat speed was 75.61 MPH. Both of those grade as well above average for high school hitters, so that quick bat is for sure one reason he is able to generate the advanced exit velocity numbers. He's able to generate that bat speed by showing off other plus numbers including an average hand speed of 25.18 MPH and an average rotational acceleration of just under 25 G's. Both of those numbers are very high and help explain the plus bat speed. Mulholland also did not just sell out for the hardest swings possible while sacrificing the quality of swing, he had an on-plane efficiency of 77%. Any number above 70% is ideal in this category, so this is just one more area where Mulholland excelled. 

Recent Trackman Traits