Tobacco Road State Games : Data Dive Pitchers
August 27, 2026
August 15–16, 2026 | Stick Williams Dream Field – Home of Queens University | Charlotte, NC
The 2026 Tobacco Road State Games brought together some of the top talent from across North Carolina for two days at Stick Williams Dream Field in Charlotte. The six-team roster featured players from the 2027–2029 classes, providing another opportunity for Prep Baseball scouts, college coaches, and professional scouts to evaluate many of the state's top prospects in one setting.
The State Games served as a culmination of Prep Baseball North Carolina's coverage throughout the preseason, high school spring, and summer circuit. The roster was built with players who performed their way into the event throughout the year, including standouts from the Preseason All-State, NC/SC Border Battle, and other events across the state. The field also featured players with experience at some of Prep Baseball's premier national and regional events, including the Future Games, Senior Future Games, Super Sophomore Games, and Junior Future Games.
With close to 20 college programs represented throughout the weekend, the event provided an opportunity for players to perform in front of evaluators while updating their Prep Baseball profiles. Position players opened the event with a pro-style workout, producing updated statistics, analytics, and video through a full offensive and defensive evaluation. Following the workout, players transitioned into game action, with each of the six teams playing two games over the course of the weekend.
Prep Baseball scouts were on hand throughout the event, collecting data, video, and evaluations. The coverage from the Tobacco Road State Games will continue with leaderboards, statistical analysis, scout notes, and player features highlighting the players and performances that stood out in Charlotte.
FULL EVENT SITE:
Rosters, Results & Leaderboards
TOBACCO ROAD STATE GAMES - DATA DIVE PITCHERS
FASTBALL
MAX FASTBALL VELOCITY
Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.
HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE
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.
HIGHEST AVG. IVB
Induced Vertical Break: Used in short form as "IVB," this metric is most important on fastballs for creating rise and on curveballs for creating depth – it can also have some use when measuring sliders and cutters as well. Sliders tend to be closer to zero inches while cutters are generally between 5 and 15 inches. Usually fastballs and curveballs with large IVB have higher spin efficiencies as well. Sliders generally have very little (closer to zero) IVB and very low spin efficiency. You could also categorize IVB into spin rate as this is part of the “useful movement” you’re looking for, and it’s also important to consider the pitch’s velocity as well as its release height when evaluating IVB measurements against each other.
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
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.”
HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%
For some context, in 2023 MLB pitchers averaged an In Zone% of around 49 percent in live game settings measured across all pitch types, according to Statcast.