Prep Baseball Report

Chicago Preseason I.D.: TrackMan Files


By Andy Sroka
Illinois and Wisconsin Assistant Director

On Feb. 28, the PBR Illinois team hosted the third annual Chicago Preseason I.D. at the Pullman Community Center in Chicago, Ill. The event featured nearly 50 players from high school graduates from classes 2022-2025 across the Chicagoland area, including a handful of prospects from across the Indiana state line.

Previously, our staff collaborated to highlight the biggest takeaways and highlights from this showcase, and we published them within our Quick Hits piece. We also shared the event's traditional leaderboards, published inside this Statistical Analysis. Today, with the help of our TrackMan unit, we're diving a little deeper into the data to see what we can find.

MAX FASTBALL VELOCITY & PEak SPIN RATE

Rank Name State School Class Pos Velocity (max)
1 Waylon Deck IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 RHP 86.5 mph
2 Ryan Kramer IL The Latin School of Chicago 2022 3B 84.7 mph
3 Connor Frey IL Normal University 2022 RHP 84.1 mph
4 MJ Liyeos IL Waubonsie Valley 2023 RHP 84.0 mph
5 Jack Armstrong IL Shiloh 2022 RHP 83.9 mph
6 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 83.3 mph

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (max)
1 Ryan Kramer IL The Latin School of Chicago 2022 3B 2490 rpm
2 Waylon Deck IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 RHP 2442 rpm
3 Christian Arenibar IL St. Laurence 2024 SS 2334 rpm
4 Joseph Pieper IL Palatine 2023 RHP 2267 rpm
5 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 2258 rpm
6 MJ Liyeos IL Waubonsie Valley 2023 RHP 2250 rpm
7 Nick Lagges IL Lane Tech 2022 SS 2245 rpm
8 Jaren Jackson IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 2B 2172 rpm
9 Spencer Boudreau IL Bradley Bourbonnais 2024 RHP 2130 rpm
10 Jack Armstrong IL Shiloh 2022 RHP 2128 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 MJ Liyeos IL Waubonsie Valley 2023 RHP 14.2
2 Christian Arenibar IL St. Laurence 2024 SS 13.6
3 Jaren Jackson IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 2B 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 Ryan Kramer IL The Latin School of Chicago 2022 3B 2387
2 Jaren Jackson IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 2B 2352
3 Connor Frey IL Normal University 2022 RHP 2138
4 Samuel Castillo IL Ogden international 2024 RHP 2057
5 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 2044

AVERAGE CURVEBALL SPIN RATE

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 MJ Liyeos IL Waubonsie Valley 2023 RHP 2691 rpm
2 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 2434 rpm
3 Ryan Kramer IL The Latin School of Chicago 2022 3B 2381 rpm
4 Jaren Jackson IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 2B 2372 rpm
5 Waylon Deck IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 RHP 2268 rpm
6 Jack Armstrong IL Shiloh 2022 RHP 2153 rpm
7 Joseph Pieper IL Palatine 2023 RHP 2131 rpm

AVERAGE CHANGEUP HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

Rank Name State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 Waylon Deck IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 RHP 15.3
2 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 15.1
3 Christian Arenibar IL St. Laurence 2024 SS 14.9
4 Nick Lagges IL Lane Tech 2022 SS 14.2
5 Jaren Jackson IL Homewood-Flossmoor 2022 2B 13.7
6 Joseph Pieper IL Palatine 2023 RHP 12.9
7 Jack Armstrong IL Shiloh 2022 RHP 12.8
8 MJ Liyeos IL Waubonsie Valley 2023 RHP 12.4

AVERAGE EXIT VELOCITY (HITTING)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (avg)
1 Ryan Kramer IL The Latin School of Chicago 2022 3B 88.8 mph
2 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 87.2 mph
3 William Hill IL Brooks 2023 OF 86.3 mph
4 Donyae Smith IL Gwendolyn Brooks 2022 3B 85.7 mph
5 Sean Bolin IL Kenwood Academy 2021 1B 85.5 mph
6 MJ Liyeos IL Waubonsie Valley 2023 RHP 85.2 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 Ryan Kramer IL The Latin School of Chicago 2022 3B 95.6 mph
2 Donyae Smith IL Gwendolyn Brooks 2022 3B 95.0 mph
3 William Hill IL Brooks 2023 OF 94.3 mph
4 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 93.7 mph
5 Sean Bolin IL Kenwood Academy 2021 1B 93.7 mph
6 Alijah Rainey IL Homewood Flossmoor 2023 1B 91.9 mph
7 Charlie Dumo IL Deerfield 2023 OF 91.6 mph
8 Kaleb Chatman IL Morgan Park 2021 OF 91.3 mph
9 Grant Raber IL Moline 2023 90.9 mph
10 Omar Alday Jr IL St. Rita 2023 SS 90.8 mph

PEAK ESTIMATED BATTED DISTANCE (HITTING)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Ryan Kramer IL The Latin School of Chicago 2022 3B 344 ft
2 Donyae Smith IL Gwendolyn Brooks 2022 3B 342 ft
3 Richard Gomez IL St. Laurence 2023 2B 334 ft
4 Angel Tapia Jr. IL Solorio 2023 C 332 ft
5 Kaleb Chatman IL Morgan Park 2021 OF 328 ft
6 Nick Lagges IL Lane Tech 2022 SS 324 ft
7 Savion Flowers IL Kenwood Academy 2024 OF 319 ft

For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcaseCLICK HERE.

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