Mon February 21, 2022
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Induced Vertical Break: IVB
Vertical Approach Angle: VAA
Horizontal Break: HB
Release Speed: RS or Velo
Release Height: RH or RelHei
Zach Boyd’s Fastball - Up to 85.6, sitting at 84.3 with plus VB from a vertical axis. Release height is slightly above the average, but his ability to generate so much lift from an over-top-slot combined with the velo creates a flat approach angle. Was able to get his VAA above -4.5 degrees in the zone, and should be able to miss bats with it.
Jagen Ratlief’s curveball - Throws his breaker hard, and gets above average spin on it. Up to 2,478 rpm, averaged 2,406. Had one outlier pitch thrown at 10:00 that played closer to a slider/cutter hybrid, which skews the averages. For the most part he threw the pitch at 8:15 and was getting 12-16 inches of sweep with a -2 to -6 IVB. Gets a lot of movement on the pitch and is able to throw it hard still which is rare for his age.
Gauch’s curveball - Consistent release/shape makes the pitch impressive as he’s getting above average drop (averaged -12.7” IVB, max of -14.3”), on the pitch and throwing it at 69.7 mph, hitting 70.5. He’s also getting some sidespin on the pitch, and creating 8.8” of HB. When he threw the pitch counter-clockwise from 7:00, he was getting majority topspin and creating a more true 12-6 shape.
Coston’s slider - Threw the second-hardest slider of the event and had a ton of gyro spin in the shape, which was why he was able to create a good amount of depth and just enough glove side break. It does tend to have a cutter shape (10:15 tilt) as the pitch spins at a similar direction as his fastball in the first ~45 feet, but towards the end of the shape, it begins to spin closer to 12:00/12:30 (trackman struggles to pick up non-magnus movement and tends to misread these) at the end of its ball flight, which is what makes the pitch unique.
