Prep Baseball Report

St. Louis Open: Blast Motion Board


By: Diego Solares
Area Scout, Illinois & Missouri

On Wednesday, June 15, the PBR Illinois and PBR Missouri staffs collaborated to host the annual St. Louis Open at the Billiken Sports Center on the campus of Saint Louis University. This event regularly allows both us an opportunity to check in on players from the Greater Metro region, including prospects that attend from central and southern Illinois.

To see which players attended, as well as all of the statistics from this event, click HERE.

We recently rolled out the Stat Story from this event, highlighting which players found themselves atop the leaderboards from this event. We then dove deep into the data, looking at the pitch metrics and batted ball numbers from this event inside our TrackMan Files piece.  

Today, with the help of our Blast Motion sensors, we're analyzing the swing metrics measured from Tuesday's invite-only event.

Hand Speed (Peak & Average)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Hand Speed (max)
1 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 26.7 mph
2 Gavin Mabe MO Union 2024 C 26.4 mph
3 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 25.8 mph
^ Jake Stedman IL Belleville West 2024 SS 25.8 mph
4 Parker Overlin MO University City 2023 OF 25.7 mph
5 Blake Holtmeyer MO Capital City 2025 RHP 25.5 mph
6 Reid Cisel MO St. Dominic 2024 OF 24.8 mph
7 Henry Kufa IL Carlinville 2023 SS 24.5 mph
8 John Hilpert IL Belleville West 2025 RHP 24.3 mph
9 Caden Paxton MO Windsor 2023 C 23.7 mph
^ Luke Isaacs IL Freeburg 2023 MIF 23.7 mph
10 Ethan Weber MO Rockwood Summit 2023 1B 23.6 mph

Rank Name State School Class Pos Hand Speed (avg)
1 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 25.4 mph
2 Parker Overlin MO University City 2023 OF 24.2 mph
3 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 24.1 mph
4 Blake Holtmeyer MO Capital City 2025 RHP 23.8 mph
5 Gavin Mabe MO Union 2024 C 23.5 mph
6 Henry Kufa IL Carlinville 2023 SS 23.1 mph
7 Jake Stedman IL Belleville West 2024 SS 22.9 mph
8 Caden Paxton MO Windsor 2023 C 22.8 mph
9 Ethan Weber MO Rockwood Summit 2023 1B 22.6 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 Kaden Kinsler MO Elsberry 2023 CF 73.5 mph
2 Eric Williams MO Fort Zumwalt East 2024 SS 72.5 mph
3 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 72.0 mph
4 Gavin Mabe MO Union 2024 C 72.0 mph
5 Caden Paxton MO Windsor 2023 C 71.7 mph
6 Nick Muskopf IL Belleville West 2023 SS 70.8 mph
7 Ronnie Willenbrink MO Affton 2023 RHP 70.7 mph
8 Jake Stedman IL Belleville West 2024 SS 70.7 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 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 33.8 g
2 Luke Isaacs IL Freeburg 2023 MIF 31.7 g
3 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 31.0 g
4 Henry Kufa IL Carlinville 2023 SS 29.9 g

Rank Name State School Class Pos Rot. Acc (avg)
1 Grainger Yurevich MO Morton College 2023 RHP 28.2 g
2 Reiss Beahan MO Columbia Hickman 2023 LHP 24.9 g
3 Henry Kufa IL Carlinville 2023 SS 24.7 g
4 Luke Isaacs IL Freeburg 2023 MIF 24.4 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.

For a complete look at each of the statistics measured at this showcase, CLICK HERE.

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