Boise Preseason ID: Pitching Data Dive
March 3, 2026
BOISE, ID – The Boise Preseason ID was held on Sunday, February 22nd at Bishop Kelly High School in Boise, ID. This showcase featured over 60 prospects from the 2026 to 2030 classes, each looking to make a statement ahead of the spring season.
Participants took part in an extended, pro-style workout that included batting practice tracked by TrackMan and Blast Motion, 60-yard dash testing powered by VALD Performance, and a full defensive evaluation. Pitchers threw bullpens, capturing advanced metrics via our TrackMan unit such as pitch velocity, spin rate, and horizontal and vertical movement. The event featured a strong mix of familiar standouts continuing to build on previous performances, along with several new names who emerged with eye-opening showings.
Below are the top Trackman Pitching metrics recorded during the bullpen sessions
FASTBALL
MAX VELOCITY
Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.
HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE
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.
HIGHEST AVG. IVB
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, cutters, and changeups as well. Sliders tend to be closer to zero inches while cutters are generally between 5 and 15 inches. Changeups with lower IVB indicate more depth. IVB simply means the pitch is "breaking" upward or downward from the average level a pitch falls from release to home plate. This is a stat that you want to stay away from being average at. Fortunately, this can be tweaked slightly depending on release height.
HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT
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.”
HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%
For some context, in 2023 MLB pitchers averaged an In Zone% of around 49 percent in live game settings measured across all pitch types, according to Statcast.