This past year we introduced the Trackman B1 Portable unit to our showcase events. The industry leading technology has the ability to track ball flight and collect data at an unprecedented level. 

Ball flight metrics have become increasingly important across all levels of amateur baseball. Whether it's professional scouts or college coaches, evaluators are looking for additional ways to find value that might be difficult for the naked eye to pick up. 

On the pitching side, some of the key metrics we're able to identify are spin rate, vertical break and horizontal movement. This helps us understand the movement profile of an offering and quantify the type of potential a specific pitch has moving forward. 

In this article, we're specifically looking at horizontal break on a CB from a RHP. 

HORIZONTAL BREAK

Distance, 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. - Trackman 

Curveball

'21 RHP/INF Connor Hale (Newberg)

In this breakdown, we’ll look at how much horizontal movement Hale creates with his CB and how it can potentially pair with his FB to maximize his arsenal. As you can see from the chart, the amount of break between a HS curveball and MLB curveball is rather similar. A big reason for that is a HS breaking ball will be slower than a MLB level breaking ball and thus is capable of creating similar movement. When looking at the movement numbers, it’s important to keep velocity in mind. 17.3" of break at 81 mph is completely different from 17.3" of break at 68 mph. But once we know the data, it can be easier to make adjustments or improvements. We’ve isolated 3 pitches from Hale. The first is a FB followed by 2 CB.

Breakdown