Chicago Preseason ID: Positional Data Dive
February 27, 2025
On Saturday, February 22nd, the PB Illinois staff traveled to the Pullman Community Center in Chicago, IL, to host the annual Chicago Preseason ID, an open event for the class of 2025-2028.
We've already posted a Statistical Analysis from the event, highlighting more of the traditional statistical categories. Later in the week we will release our Takeaways, highlighting some of the event's top performers.
Today, we will take a further in-depth look at the top positional prospects with the help from our tech partnerships, broken down by the categories down below:
VALD
60-YARD
MAX VERTICAL JUMP
REACTIVE STRENGTH INDEX (RSI)
The ability to develop force quickly is a requisite ability in most sports. The Reactive Strength Index (RSI) has been developed as a measure of explosive strength and is derived by evaluating jump height divided by ground contact time during the depth jump. Regarding Vertical Jumps and its application to baseball, there have been studies conducted that show a correlation between max jump height for an athlete and their ability to generate power and strength, especially on the mound.
TRACKMAN
We'll continue to roll out the data we gathered from this event, starting with the analytics we have at our disposal from our TrackMan units. Below we'll look at which players had noteworthy batted ball and pitch data.
EXIT VELOCITY (MAX)
EXIT VELOCITY (AVERAGE)
Exit Velocity: This metric measures the speed of the ball, measured in miles per hour, as it comes off the bat at the moment of contact.
Batted Ball (MAX)
Sweet Spot %
Sweet Spot percentage: This metric is determined by how often the player produces a batted ball during the session with a launch angle between 8 to 32 degrees. Sweet spot percentage can be used in concert with hard-hit rate -- the percentage of a player's batted balls that have an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher.
VISUAL EDGE
A look at the top Vizual Edge scores from the event.
EDGE SCORE
The Edge Score is a comprehensive score out of 100 that takes the core-six visual skills into account, providing athletes, parents, coaches and scouts with a benchmark number for assessing an athlete’s overall visual ability. In general the higher the Edge Score, the higher chance of athletic success. Think of the Edge Score as the 'Sixth Metric' in the standard Five-Tools that make up a ball player.
The average Edge Score for the 2020 MLB Draft Class was 79.3 (of hitters who completed a Vizual Edge test). MLB players we've worked with typically show stronger scores, with elite hitters scoring consistently above 87.0 on their Edge Score.
+ CLICK HERE for a look at the complete statistics from the event.