Prep Baseball Report

Class of 2024 Showcase: Data Dive


Kevin Cronin
Area Scout, Tech Analyst

On Sunday, October 9, PBR Illinois hosted the Class of 2024 Showcase at The MAX in McCook, Illinois. The event featured over 40 players from the 2024 class and gave our staff an in-depth look at a number of intriguing prospects within the state.

Earlier this week we published Quick Hits highlighting the top prospects of the event by class. We also rolled out a Statistical Analysis pointing out the top recorded stats by category. Today, we're going to continue breaking down the takeaways from the event by diving deeper into all of the data we collected at the showcase in the form of our Data Dive.

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 Nicholas Bestrick IL Carl Sandburg High School 2024 RHP 86.8 mph
2 Nicholas Rayyan IL Stevenson 2024 RHP 84.6 mph
3 Joshua Caccia IL St. Charles North 2024 RHP 83.9 mph
4 Lance Kiesewetter IL Henry-Senachwine 2024 RHP 83.5 mph
5 Clay Gadbois IL Kankakee 2024 RHP 83.5 mph

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (max)
1 Clay Gadbois IL Kankakee 2024 RHP 2455 rpm
2 Joshua Caccia IL St. Charles North 2024 RHP 2371 rpm
3 Harrison Young IL Marist 2024 RHP 2292 rpm
4 Nicholas Bestrick IL Carl Sandburg High School 2024 RHP 2287 rpm
5 Jack Wilson IL New Trier 2024 RHP 2278 rpm
6 Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF 2186 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 Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF -17.8
2 Haiden Stocks IL Decatur Lutheran 2024 LHP -14.9
3 Jackson Sheckler IL Galesburg 2024 CF 14.8
4 Joshua Caccia IL St. Charles North 2024 RHP 11.4
5 Braden Vanderheydt IL Washington 2024 OF 10.6

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

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Eli Travis IL Oak Park-River Forest 2024 RHP 2452 rpm
2 Jack Wilson IL New Trier 2024 RHP 2246 rpm
3 Clay Gadbois IL Kankakee 2024 RHP 2122 rpm
4 Lance Kiesewetter IL Henry-Senachwine 2024 RHP 2014 rpm

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Nicholas Bestrick IL Carl Sandburg High School 2024 RHP 2243
2 Jack Wilson IL New Trier 2024 RHP 2155
3 Joshua Caccia IL St. Charles North 2024 RHP 2119
4 Joe Stellano IL Reed Custer 2024 RHP 2108
5 Harrison Young IL Marist 2024 RHP 2085

AVERAGE CHANGEUP HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

Rank Name State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 Haiden Stocks IL Decatur Lutheran 2024 LHP -17.7
2 Jackson Sheckler IL Galesburg 2024 CF 17.7
3 Braden Vanderheydt IL Washington 2024 OF 16.3
4 Colin Geier IL Fenwick 2024 LHP -14.0
5 Nicholas Rayyan IL Stevenson 2024 RHP 12.7

MAX EXIT VELOCITY (HITTING)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (max)
1 Lucas Hicks IL Westmont 2024 OF 96.1 mph
2 Ben Ford IL Waubonsie Valley 2024 95.5 mph
3 Jalen House IL Downers Grove South 2024 OF 93.7 mph
4 Brady Gilroy IL Burlington Central 2024 OF 93.5 mph
5 Nicholas Franklin IL Father McGivney 2024 C 93.3 mph
6 Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF 93.1 mph
7 Anthony Xydakis IL Morris 2024 OF 92.9 mph
8 Clay Gadbois IL Kankakee 2024 RHP 91.6 mph
9 Kade Fatland IL Lincoln-Way East 2024 OF 91.5 mph
10 Jordon Dumas IL Grayslake Central 2024 OF 90.9 mph

MAX DISTANCE (HITTING)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Braden Vanderheydt IL Washington 2024 OF 343 ft
2 Brady Gilroy IL Burlington Central 2024 OF 339 ft
3 Nicholas Franklin IL Father McGivney 2024 C 332 ft
4 Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF 329 ft
5 Chris Danko IL York 2024 OF 324 ft
6 Max Miller IL New Trier 2024 C 317 ft

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)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Hand Speed (max)
1 Ben Ford IL Waubonsie Valley 2024 24.2 mph
2 Collin Roche IL Nazareth Academy 2025 C 23.8 mph
^ Lucas Hicks IL Westmont 2024 OF 23.8 mph
^ Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF 23.8 mph
3 Samuel Newland IL Rolling Meadows 2024 3B 23.4 mph
4 Anthony Xydakis IL Morris 2024 OF 23.3 mph
5 Brady Gilroy IL Burlington Central 2024 OF 23.1 mph
6 Max Miller IL New Trier 2024 C 22.6 mph

Rank Name State School Class Pos Hand Speed (avg)
1 Ben Ford IL Waubonsie Valley 2024 23.0 mph
2 Lucas Hicks IL Westmont 2024 OF 22.5 mph
3 Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF 22.4 mph
4 Samuel Newland IL Rolling Meadows 2024 3B 21.8 mph
5 Brady Gilroy IL Burlington Central 2024 OF 21.8 mph

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)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Bat Speed (avg)
1 Lucas Hicks IL Westmont 2024 OF 76.0 mph
2 Anthony Xydakis IL Morris 2024 OF 74.5 mph
3 Nicholas Franklin IL Father McGivney 2024 C 70.8 mph
4 Jordon Dumas IL Grayslake Central 2024 OF 69.9 mph
5 Ramiro Constantino IL Lyons Township 2024 1B 69.6 mph

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)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Rot. Acc (max)
1 Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF 32.0 g
2 Ben Ford IL Waubonsie Valley 2024 28.6 g
3 Anthony Xydakis IL Morris 2024 OF 26.3 g
4 Jalen House IL Downers Grove South 2024 OF 22.9 g
5 Harrison Young IL Marist 2024 RHP 20.4 g

Rank Name State School Class Pos Rot. Acc (avg)
1 Cody DelFavero IL Morris 2024 OF 22.9 g
2 Ben Ford IL Waubonsie Valley 2024 22.1 g
3 Anthony Xydakis IL Morris 2024 OF 20.8 g
4 Jalen House IL Downers Grove South 2024 OF 19.0 g
5 Lucas Hicks IL Westmont 2024 OF 16.3 g

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

A look at the top Vizual Edge scores from the event.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Edge Score
1 Lucas Hicks IL Westmont 2024 OF 88.98
2 Marc Iozzo IL Benet Academy 2024 3B 84.38
3 Ryan Slade IL Oak Park-River Forest 2024 C 81.33
4 Benjamin Fromm IL Glenbrook North 2024 C 80.71
5 Jake Greenspan IL St. Charles East 2024 SS 79.03
6 Ramiro Constantino IL Lyons Township 2024 1B 79.00
7 Eduardo Bravo IL Oak Park-River Forest 2024 OF 78.99
8 Braden Vanderheydt IL Washington 2024 OF 78.37
9 Ben Ford IL Waubonsie Valley 2024 78.24
10 Anthony Xydakis IL Morris 2024 OF 77.79

The Edge Score is a comprehensive score out of 100 that takes the core-six visual skills into account, providing athletes, parents, coaches and scouts with a benchmark number for assessing an athlete’s overall visual ability. In general the higher the Edge Score, the higher chance of athletic success. Think of the Edge Score as the 'Sixth Metric' in the standard Five-Tools that make up a ball player.

The average Edge Score for the 2020 MLB Draft Class was 79.3 (of hitters who completed a Vizual Edge test). MLB players we've worked with typically show stronger scores, with elite hitters scoring consistently above 87.0 on their Edge Score.

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