Prep Baseball Report

Island Future Games Trials: Pitching Data Dive


Cam Black-Araujo
Assistant Director, Canada

On Wednesday, April 23rd, the Prep Baseball British Columbia staff hosted it's second of two Future Games Trials events in British Columbia with the Island Future Games Trials hosted at Oak Bay Recreation Centre/The Players Club in Victoria, British Columbia.

This event featured 15 prospects in the 2026 & 2027 classes and players were competing for a spot on one of Canada's two teams heading to the Future Games in late July... The Canadian Future Games team (2027/2028 prospects) and Canada's Senior Future Games team (2026 prospects). Players attending Future Games Trials events also qualify to be selected for other marquee events including the Pacific Northwest Games (WA), Super Sophomore Games (OR) and more!

All players ran through a full workout that included batting practice and bullpens captured on our TrackMan, as well as athletic testing via VALD Performance. Over the next several days we'll be highlighting top performers from the event within our post-event analysis. Stay locked into our social media channels over the next several days as we continue to push out video, leaderboards and more.

Yesterday, we began our post-event coverage within our Statistical Analysis article. Today, we will continue our post-event coverage within this Pitching Data Dive as we bring you the top pitching data collected during bullpens on Wednesday.

For complete event results, click here.

To request an invite to the Vancouver Spring Invite (May 28), click here.
To view Class of 2025 Commitment Board, click here.


FASTBALL

MAX VELOCITY (MPH)

Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.

SPIN RATE (AVG)

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.)

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.)

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 %

CURVEBALL

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

SLIDER

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE %

CHANGEUP

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)


Upcoming Events

Showcase State Date Location
2025 18U Best of the West BC 04/30 Norbrock Stadium (Kamloops, BC)
2025 13U Best of the West BC 05/01 McArthur Island Park (Peewee Fields)
2025 15U Best of the West BC 05/01 McArthur Island Park (Bantam Fields)
2025 Vancouver Spring Invite BC 05/28 Parkgate Park
Senior Future Games (Class of 2026) NATIONAL 07/22 LakePoint Sports
Future Games (Class of 2027) NATIONAL 07/23 LakePoint Sports
Junior Future Games (Class of 2029/30) NATIONAL 07/24 LakePoint Sports
2025 Midwest Super Sophomore Games (Invite-Only) BC 08/01 Jennings Sports Park

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