On Tuesday, July 12, the PBR Illinois staff traveled to The Corn Crib in Normal, Ill., to host the annual Central Illinois Open. This event was open to all 2023-to-2026 graduates and featured more than 50 prospects from the Central Illinois region, allowing our scouts an opportunity to check-in on these athletes as the summer rolls on. 

For a complete list of players in attendance, click HERE. To see all of the statistics from the event, click HERE. 

 

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 & SPIN RATE

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Velocity (max)
1	Kolten Schmoll-Burton	IL	Geneseo	2025	RHP	84.4 mph
2	Cole Martz	IN	Huntington North	2023	RHP	84.0 mph
3	James Hess	IL	Charleston	2023	RHP	83.5 mph
4	Wyatt Beer	IL	Mascoutah	2024	SS	82.2 mph
5	Jack Helms	IL	Mattoon	2023	RHP	81.7 mph
6	Taylor Voorhees	IL	St. Joseph Ogden	2023	3B	81.5 mph

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Spin Rate (max)
1	Mac Raymer	IL	Elpaso Gridley	2023	LHP	2293 rpm
2	Owen Cavanaugh	IL	Normal Community	2024	SS	2246 rpm
3	Kolten Schmoll-Burton	IL	Geneseo	2025	RHP	2207 rpm
4	James Hess	IL	Charleston	2023	RHP	2202 rpm
5	Cole Martz	IN	Huntington North	2023	RHP	2199 rpm
6	Wyatt Beer	IL	Mascoutah	2024	SS	2191 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	James Hess	IL	Charleston	2023	RHP	16.3
2	Daniel Wilson	IL	Peoria Notre Dame	2025	RHP	14.1
3	Mason Vandegraft	IL	El Paso Gridley	2025	RHP	14.1
4	Jack Helms	IL	Mattoon	2023	RHP	13.0
5	Rocco Trevino	IL	Bishop McNamara	2026	LHP	-11.7

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

We’ll take a look at the top Vizual Edge scores from the event.

EDGE SCORE

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