Prep Baseball Report

PBR IL: Rock Valley JC Scout Day: Pitching Data Dive


Kevin Cronin
Tech Analyst, Area Scout

On Tuesday, September 20, the PBR Illinois staff hosted the Rock Valley JC Scout Day in Rockford, Illinois. The event was unfortunately cut short due to rain, but we still had a chance to see the stable of arms that the Golden Eagles have to offer.

You can read up on the pitchers that stood out to our scouting staff from the Scout Day, HERE.

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 School HS Grad Year Pos Velocity (max)
1 Ethan Storm Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 93.4 mph
2 Sam Pritchard Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 91.5 mph
3 Drew Burkholder Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 89.9 mph
4 Griffin Smith Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 87.7 mph
5 Michael Spano Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 87.6 mph
6 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 87.3 mph
7 Braydon Cooper Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 87.0 mph
8 Kahler Key Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 85.0 mph
9 Rick Powell Rock Valley JC 2021 OF 84.6 mph
10 Michael Cantrill Burnet 2022 RHP 84.6 mph

Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (max)
1 Ethan Storm Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2510 rpm
2 Sam Pritchard Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2382 rpm
3 Michael Spano Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 2373 rpm
4 Rick Powell Rock Valley JC 2021 OF 2342 rpm
5 Michael Cantrill Burnet 2022 RHP 2341 rpm
6 Matthew Meyer Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2293 rpm
7 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2253 rpm
8 Austin Loberger Bradford 2024 RHP 2251 rpm
9 Drew Burkholder Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 2236 rpm
10 Braydon Cooper Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2215 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 School HS Grad Year Pos HM (avg)
1 Austin Loberger Bradford 2024 RHP 23.1
2 Cayden Ahart Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 17.0
3 Chase Duffy Stillman Valley 2021 RHP 15.3
4 Michael Spano Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 14.5
5 Griffin Smith Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 13.5

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.”

MAX & AVERAGE CURVEBALL SPIN RATE

Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (max)
1 Michael Cantrill Burnet 2022 RHP 2818 rpm
2 Michael Spano Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 2595 rpm
3 Ethan Storm Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2562 rpm
4 Matthew Meyer Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2491 rpm
5 Kahler Key Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2473 rpm
6 Austin Loberger Bradford 2024 RHP 2302 rpm
7 Sam Pritchard Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2239 rpm
8 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2227 rpm
9 Rick Powell Rock Valley JC 2021 OF 2178 rpm
10 Braydon Cooper Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2035 rpm

Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Michael Cantrill Burnet 2022 RHP 2681 rpm
2 Ethan Storm Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2500 rpm
3 Michael Spano Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 2478 rpm
4 Matthew Meyer Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2435 rpm
5 Kahler Key Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2410 rpm
6 Sam Pritchard Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2194 rpm
7 Austin Loberger Bradford 2024 RHP 2156 rpm
8 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2148 rpm
9 Rick Powell Rock Valley JC 2021 OF 2123 rpm
10 Braydon Cooper Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 1993 rpm

MAX & AVERAGE SLIDER SPIN RATE

Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (max)
1 Griffin Smith Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2356 rpm
2 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2320 rpm
3 Drew Burkholder Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 2246 rpm
4 Kahler Key Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2243 rpm
5 Cayden Ahart Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2132 rpm

Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Griffin Smith Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2283
2 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 2239
3 Drew Burkholder Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 2237
4 Kahler Key Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2207
5 Cayden Ahart Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2006


AVERAGE CHANGEUP spin rate & HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Drew Burkholder Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 2095 rpm
2 Braydon Cooper Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 2001 rpm
3 Ethan Storm Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 1907 rpm
4 Rick Powell Rock Valley JC 2021 OF 1898 rpm
5 Chase Duffy Stillman Valley 2021 RHP 1896 rpm
6 Austin Loberger Bradford 2024 RHP 1851 rpm
7 Griffin Smith Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 1841 rpm
8 Sam Pritchard Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 1688 rpm
9 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP 1676 rpm
10 Payton Benning Streator Township 2021 LHP 1656 rpm

Rank Name School HS Grad Year Pos HM (avg)
1 Austin Loberger Bradford 2024 RHP 25.5
2 Drew Burkholder Rock Valley JC 2021 RHP 20.9
3 Griffin Smith Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 20.7
4 Ethan Storm Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 17.3
5 Michael Cantrill Burnet 2022 RHP 16.5
6 Sam Pritchard Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 15.5
7 Rick Powell Rock Valley JC 2021 OF 14.6
8 Chase Duffy Stillman Valley 2021 RHP 12.1
9 Ryan Sell Rock Valley JC 2021 LHP -11.5
10 Braydon Cooper Rock Valley JC 2022 RHP 11.5

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