Unsigned Senior Showcase: Pitching Data Dive
February 8, 2024
On Feb. 4th, the Prep Baseball Illinois staff hosted the Unsigned Senior Showcase at The MAX in McCook, Ill. The event was host to over 30 uncommitted senior prospects from around the state, and it gave our staff as well as college scouts in attendance, a chance to get an up-close look at these players before the spring season.
Yesterday, we published our Statistical Analysis, where we broke down the stat leaders from the more traditional categories and our Quick Hits, where we dove into some of the top players from the event. Today, we will take a further in-depth look at the top pitchers with the help of our tech partnerships, broken down by the categories down below:
TRACKMAN
FASTBALL
VELOCITY (MAX)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Velocity (max) |
1 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 86.6 mph |
2 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 86.5 mph |
3 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 86.3 mph |
4 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 85.8 mph |
5 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 85.7 mph |
Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Spin Rate (avg) |
1 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 2350 rpm |
2 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 2266 rpm |
3 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 2231 rpm |
4 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 2206 rpm |
5 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 2056 rpm |
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.
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | IVB (avg) |
1 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 18.3 in |
2 | Anthony Dinkel | IL | Montini Catholic | 2024 | RHP | 16.7 in |
3 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 15.8 in |
4 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 15.7 in |
5 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 12.4 in |
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. IVB is also a huge part of the vertical approach angle.
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | HM (avg) |
1 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 13.4 |
2 | Anthony Dinkel | IL | Montini Catholic | 2024 | RHP | 12.4 |
3 | Danny Basalone | IL | Bolingbrook | 2024 | LHP | -10.9 |
4 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 10.7 |
5 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 9.1 |
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.”
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Zone % |
1 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 66 % |
2 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 50 % |
^ | Anthony Dinkel | IL | Montini Catholic | 2024 | RHP | 50 % |
3 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 42 % |
4 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 28 % |
5 | Danny Basalone | IL | Bolingbrook | 2024 | LHP | 20 % |
Average MLB pitchers throw 62% strikes, and better pitchers throw strikes 65% of the time, or roughly 2:1 strikes to balls.
CURVEBALL
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Spin Rate (avg) |
1 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 2419 rpm |
2 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 2310 rpm |
3 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 1949 rpm |
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | IVB (avg) |
1 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | -17.8 in |
2 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | -13.7 in |
3 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | -11.3 in |
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Zone % |
1 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 33 % |
^ | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 33 % |
2 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 20 % |
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | HM (avg) |
1 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | -16.0 |
SLIDER
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Spin Rate (avg) |
1 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 2565 |
2 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 2209 |
3 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 2110 |
4 | Danny Basalone | IL | Bolingbrook | 2024 | LHP | 2021 |
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | IVB (avg) |
1 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 4.4 in |
2 | Danny Basalone | IL | Bolingbrook | 2024 | LHP | 3.9 in |
3 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | -3.7 in |
4 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | -2.2 in |
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | HM (avg) |
1 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 16.9 |
2 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | -5.1 |
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Zone % |
1 | Danny Basalone | IL | Bolingbrook | 2024 | LHP | 100 % |
2 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 40 % |
CHANGEUP
SPIN RATE (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Spin Rate (avg) |
1 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 2093 rpm |
2 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 2087 rpm |
3 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 2046 rpm |
4 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 1898 rpm |
5 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 1760 rpm |
INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | IVB (avg) |
1 | Nick Jukovich | IL | Glenbrook North | 2024 | RHP | 14.5 in |
2 | Anthony Dinkel | IL | Montini Catholic | 2024 | RHP | 14.4 in |
3 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 12.7 in |
4 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 9.1 in |
5 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 7.8 in |
HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | HM (avg) |
1 | Danny Basalone | IL | Bolingbrook | 2024 | LHP | -14.1 |
2 | Jacob Younan | IL | Taft | 2024 | 3B | 13.9 |
3 | Clayton Cawley | IL | Metamora | 2024 | RHP | 13.2 |
4 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | -9.5 |
5 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 8.9 |
STRIKE ZONE RATE%
Rank | Name | State | School | Class | Pos | Zone % |
1 | Pete Zimmerman | IL | Maine South | 2024 | RHP | 66 % |
2 | Kevin O'Connor | IL | DePaul College Prep | 2024 | LHP | 50 % |
^ | Danny Basalone | IL | Bolingbrook | 2024 | LHP | 50 % |
+ CLICK HERE for a look at the complete statistics from the event.
RELATED CONTENT