Mon October 25, 2021
Follow @PBRVirginiaDC
Facebook + Instagram
Induced Vertical Break: IVB
Vertical Approach Angle: VAA
Horizontal Break: HB
Release Speed: RS or Velo
Release Height: RH or RelHei
The Top Pitchers:
Curveball: Another elite spin pitch. Up to 3,080 rpm, and 3,061 rpm on average. Has an innate feel for supinating and is able to produce a high spin efficiency shape creating heavy sweep and drop from a 7:45/8:00 tilt. He throws it hard at 75.7 mph and produces somewhat of a sweeping breaker/power slurve shape; both of which are effective. To create more sidespin, he does drop his release half-a-foot in comparison to his fastball. He averaged nearly 20 inches of sweep and had 10+ inches of drop on every pitch while having 20+ inches of sweep on all but one. It’s a bat-missing pitch with incredibly unique traits.
Fastball: Gets a ton of backspin from a generic release. Has feel for pronation and can get high spin efficiency from his slot to create ride and run. Hit 87.2, sat at 86.6 mph. Only 2,051 rpm on average but optimized it with good movement. Up to 21.2” of IVB, had 20” on average.
Slider: Plays like a sweeping CB. Has heavy sweep (17.2 inches of HB) and slight drop with a -7.1” IVB on average. He threw it at/around 8:15 but it played better at 8:30/8:45 where he replaced depth with more sweep and was able to get more sidespin out of the shape and create some gyro action. Throws it somewhat hard at 72 mph, up to 75.1 mph on the day.
Changeup: Able to push his axis clockwise about 30 minutes by dropping release, so he was creating sidespin and getting above average HB (15.9” on average, 18” max). Has an exact 10 mph drop-off from his FB and plays off it well movement-wise.
Fastball: Hit 86 mph, sat at 84.5 mph. Throws it from an extreme vertical axis and pronates enough to create above average IVB even with a < 90% spin efficiency. There’s some gyro to the pitch as he can supinate a bit which leads to slight cut, but when he was able to keep his axis clockwise from 12:00, he had upwards of 20” IVB consistently. Has a somewhat low release and showed feel for elevating his heater. Had one FB, in the zone, with a -3.1 VAA, and had another near the middle portion of the plate with a -4.1 VAA. It’s a legit, flat pitch with bat-missing traits. Some consistency in his release could help him raise the 19.7” IVB into the 20s.
Slider: Combines a solid amount of gyro spin with some sweep to get seam-shifted wake (when the tilt/direction of the pitch changes in the last 15 feet) traits at times. He threw one SL at 8:45 with less movement than the rest that drops his averages down, otherwise 14 or more inches of sweep on all but two pitches and also had some depth (-5.3” average IVB). Gets above average spin (2,328 rpm max) and throws it hard enough at 72.1 mph.
Changeup: Vertical axis with mostly backspin. Throws it 30 minutes clockwise from FB but there’s not enough gyro spin to create some late break, and the seam orientation is very linear with not much changes throughout it’s plane. Throws it at 78.4 mph with same bauer units as his FB.
