Prep Baseball Report

Top Prospect Games: Trackman Leaders - Hitters


Matt Payne
Director of Scouting, PBR of NC

PBR of North Carolina hosted its Top Prospect Games on August 3rd at Campbell University. The event featured players from across the state in the 2023-2026 grad classes. The Top Prospect Games continues to be one of the most popular summer events on the PBR summer schedule with several college coaches in attendance taking a look at the prospects in attendance. 

The day started with position players taking batting practice on the field with Trackman collecting ball flight data. After BP position players went through a defensive evaluation that began with the outfielders followed by the catchers and infielders. When players finished their defensive workout they ran a laser timed 60 using Swift Technology. In the afternoon players were split into 5 teams with each team playing 2 controlled games with Trackman gathering information on each pitcher that threw in the game. 

Click Here to see the full roster and stats

Trackman Leaders - Hitters

 

PEAK EXIT VELOCITY

TrackMan is able to track every ball hit into fair territory, throughout the BP sessions.  Below are the exit velocities produced by individual players.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (max)
1 Blake Crawford NC North Lenoir 2024 OF 101.3 mph
2 Holden Cooper NC Wakefield 2024 C 99.1 mph
3 Jake Minarik NC William A. Hough 2024 OF 97.9 mph
4 Levi Baker NC Wake County Warriors 2024 3B 96.6 mph
5 Ethan Wienand NC Cape Fear 2023 OF 96.4 mph
6 Nathan Bunch NC Athens Drive Magnet 2024 1B 95.9 mph
7 CARTER JEANBAPTISTE NC Grimsley 2024 OF 95.4 mph
8 Lane Herndon NC Garner 2023 SS 95.3 mph
9 Connor Shoulders NC Dixon 2023 OF 94.7 mph
10 Brian OConnell III NC Eastern Guilford 2023 C 94.6 mph

AVERAGE EXIT VELOCITY

The average exit velocity measures a players ability to consistently produce hard contact.  The average was taken based on every ball tracked by TrackMan throughout the player's BP session.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (avg)
1 Blake Crawford NC North Lenoir 2024 OF 92.8 mph
2 Nathan Bunch NC Athens Drive Magnet 2024 1B 92.4 mph
3 Jake Minarik NC William A. Hough 2024 OF 90.7 mph
4 CARTER JEANBAPTISTE NC Grimsley 2024 OF 89.3 mph
5 Bryant Kimbrell NC Pinecrest 2024 3B 88.1 mph
6 Joshua Herbert NC East Forsyth 2023 OF 88.0 mph
7 Holden Cooper NC Wakefield 2024 C 87.7 mph
8 Brian OConnell III NC Eastern Guilford 2023 C 86.9 mph
9 Lane Herndon NC Garner 2023 SS 86.6 mph
10 Easton Walker NC Crossroads Arts & Science Early College 2024 C 86.5 mph

DISTANCE OFF THE BAT

TrackMan is able to measure and track the ball while in the air.  For every fair ball put in play it will display the distance the hit traveled.

Peak Distance - Best of the Hitter’s Session

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Blake Crawford NC North Lenoir 2024 OF 392 ft
2 CARTER JEANBAPTISTE NC Grimsley 2024 OF 367 ft
3 Holden Cooper NC Wakefield 2024 C 364 ft
4 Brian OConnell III NC Eastern Guilford 2023 C 362 ft
5 Ethan Wienand NC Cape Fear 2023 OF 359 ft
6 Easton Walker NC Crossroads Arts & Science Early College 2024 C 356 ft
7 Logan Lowe NC C.E. Jordan 2024 SS 352 ft
8 Lane Herndon NC Garner 2023 SS 350 ft
9 Brett Cassell NC Cox Mill 2024 SS 348 ft
10 Levi Baker NC Wake County Warriors 2024 3B 348 ft

Average Distance - Average of each ball tracked in the Session

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (avg)
1 Blake Crawford NC North Lenoir 2024 OF 295 ft
2 Easton Walker NC Crossroads Arts & Science Early College 2024 C 294 ft
3 Lucca Pascarella NC Cape Fear 2024 C 283 ft
4 Colin Hawkes NC Durham School of The Arts 2023 OF 272 ft
5 Ethan Wienand NC Cape Fear 2023 OF 269 ft
6 Camden Ashe NC South Point 2024 C 253 ft
7 Holden Cooper NC Wakefield 2024 C 253 ft
8 Levi Baker NC Wake County Warriors 2024 3B 249 ft
9 Konor Davis NC Alexander Central 2023 LHP 245 ft
10 Dylan Pasternak NC Leesville Road 2024 SS 245 ft

HARD HIT PERCENTAGE

TrackMan is able to track and follow exit velocities of each hitter.  Based on the individual's top exit velocity, TrackMan is able to give us a percentage of hard hit balls.  This percentage is based off of each individual hitter's top exit velocity.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Hard Hit %
1 Nathan Bunch NC Athens Drive Magnet 2024 1B 90 %
2 Bryant Kimbrell NC Pinecrest 2024 3B 71 %
3 Holden Cooper NC Wakefield 2024 C 70 %
^ Blake Crawford NC North Lenoir 2024 OF 70 %
4 CARTER JEANBAPTISTE NC Grimsley 2024 OF 55 %
5 Lane Herndon NC Garner 2023 SS 50 %
6 Jake Minarik NC William A. Hough 2024 OF 45 %
7 Will Hodge NC High Point Christian 2024 OF 41 %
8 Brian OConnell III NC Eastern Guilford 2023 C 40 %
9 Jordan Wright NC Rocky Mount Academy 2024 3B 38 %
10 Shane Bernhardt NC Holly Springs 2024 LHP 33 %
^ Levi Baker NC Wake County Warriors 2024 3B 33 %
^ Brandon Bannerman NC Heide Trask 2023 OF 33 %
^ Ethan Wienand NC Cape Fear 2023 OF 33 %
^ Dylan Pasternak NC Leesville Road 2024 SS 33 %

LAUNCH ANGLE PERCENTAGE

Based on the ball flight, TrackMan is able to identify each hit as a ground ball, line drive, or fly ball.  While there are many factors as to why a hitter may approach each pitch in a certain way, the overall groupings of BP can give some insight to each hitter's approach.

Line Drive %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Line Drive %
1 Braylon Whitaker NC Cox Mill 2024 OF 75 %
2 Nathan Bunch NC Athens Drive Magnet 2024 1B 70 %
3 Dyson Lewis NC Alexander Central 2023 SS 66 %
^ Dylan Davis NC Middle Creek 2024 OF 66 %
4 Clay Rosser NC Grimsley 2025 RHP 62 %
5 CARTER JEANBAPTISTE NC Grimsley 2024 OF 55 %
6 Drake Della Ratta NC Holly Springs 2024 SS 54 %
7 Joshua Herbert NC East Forsyth 2023 OF 53 %
8 Holden Cooper NC Wakefield 2024 C 50 %
^ Levi Baker NC Wake County Warriors 2024 3B 50 %
^ Blake Crawford NC North Lenoir 2024 OF 50 %
^ Brian OConnell III NC Eastern Guilford 2023 C 50 %
^ Brady Williams NC Currituck County 2024 2B 50 %
^ Cameron Guentensberger NC Orange 2024 OF 50 %
9 Jason Caccavaro NC Pamlico County 2023 SS 44 %
10 Chase Gribble NC Christ School 2023 3B 42 %
^ Lucca Pascarella NC Cape Fear 2024 C 42 %

Fly Ball %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Fly Ball %
1 Colin Hawkes NC Durham School of The Arts 2023 OF 90.0 %
2 Konor Davis NC Alexander Central 2023 LHP 66.7 %
3 Easton Walker NC Crossroads Arts & Science Early College 2024 C 64.3 %
4 John Nelson McLamb NC Midway 2024 LHP 60.0 %
^ Adrian Gonzalez NC Apex High 2025 3B 60.0 %
5 Charlie Vestal NC South Granville 2023 1B 55.6 %
^ Shane Bernhardt NC Holly Springs 2024 LHP 55.6 %
6 Logan Lowe NC C.E. Jordan 2024 SS 53.8 %
7 Ryan Adams NC Holly Springs 2024 RHP 50.0 %
^ Dylan Pasternak NC Leesville Road 2024 SS 50.0 %
^ Caden Reedy NC Oak Grove 2026 C 50.0 %
^ Tanner Ferguson NC Pro5 Baseball Academy 2025 SS 50.0 %
^ Mason Hughes NC Cape Fear High 2024 SS 50.0 %
^ Camden Ashe NC South Point 2024 C 50.0 %
8 Mason Fennell NC Holly Springs 2023 3B 45.5 %
^ Thomas McNally NC Charlotte Christian 2024 OF 45.5 %
^ Hayden Ashby NC Cox Mill 2024 1B 45.5 %
9 Brandon Bannerman NC Heide Trask 2023 OF 44.4 %
^ Brayden Schear NC Wakefield 2024 1B 44.4 %
10 Lucca Pascarella NC Cape Fear 2024 C 42.9 %
Ground Ball %
Rank Name State School Class Pos Ground Ball %
1 Matthew Connolly NC West Rowan 2023 C 100 %
2 Crawford Elrod NC Westchester Country Day 2026 SS 91 %
3 Alex Blackmon NC Middle Creek 2023 C 85 %
4 Jake Minarik NC William A. Hough 2024 OF 72 %
5 Bryant Kimbrell NC Pinecrest 2024 3B 71 %
6 Will Hodge NC High Point Christian 2024 OF 66 %
7 Jabari Lee NC Jack Britt 2024 OF 63 %
8 Cole Triplett NC Willow Spring 2024 OF 57 %
9 Jarrett Crabtree NC Grace Christain 2023 OF 55 %
10 Cole Rice NC Reagan 2024 C 54 %