Prep Baseball Report

Future Games Pitcher Data Dive: Team Illinois & Select


By: Illinois Staff

From July 22-25, Prep Baseball hosted the 2026 Future Games. The best uncommitted talent from the Class of 2028 all met at LakePoint Sports last week to ignite the start of this special event, as position players were guided through this pro-style workout in front of a sea of nearly 500 college coaches. After the first day's workout, each team participated in three games against some of the top talent in their region.

In this post, we’ll share with you the stat leaders from Team Illinois Future Games pitchers with leaderboards precisely collected by our state-of-the-art tech partners at TrackMan.

Jump to: Fastball · Curveball · Slider · Changeup


TrackMan

FASTBALL

VELOCITY (MAX)

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Keegan Crabtree IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 SS 2372 rpm
2 James OConnor IL Nazareth Academy 2028 RHP 2298 rpm
3 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 2287 rpm
4 Luke Crowder IL Benet Academy 2028 LHP 2232 rpm
5 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 2177 rpm
6 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF 2164 rpm
7 James Sobkowiak IL Downers Grove South 2028 SS 2152 rpm
8 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP 2106 rpm
9 Weston Ensign IL Fisher 2028 RHP 2105 rpm
10 Kamden Johnston IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 RHP 2052 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 Kamden Johnston IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 RHP 21.8 in
2 Keegan Crabtree IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 SS 21.1 in
3 Luke Crowder IL Benet Academy 2028 LHP 19.2 in
4 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF 16.9 in
5 James Sobkowiak IL Downers Grove South 2028 SS 16.6 in
6 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 15.7 in
7 Mason Trayser IL Oswego East 2028 LHP 15.6 in
8 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS 14.6 in
9 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 14.4 in
10 Weston Ensign IL Fisher 2028 RHP 14.3 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 efficiencies. 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 vertical approach angle.

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 Dante Gianino IL Gibault Catholic 2028 LHP -17.2
2 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP 16.8
3 Dayne Franks IL Orion 2028 LHP -16.5
4 James OConnor IL Nazareth Academy 2028 RHP 15.4
5 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP -14.1
6 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 13.7
7 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 13.6
8 Mason Trayser IL Oswego East 2028 LHP -13.4
9 Weston Ensign IL Fisher 2028 RHP 12.0
10 Luke Crowder IL Benet Academy 2028 LHP -10.6

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 Dayne Franks IL Orion 2028 LHP 88 %
2 James Sobkowiak IL Downers Grove South 2028 SS 85 %
3 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP 80 %
4 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 73 %
5 Keegan Crabtree IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 SS 71 %
6 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 64 %
7 Dante Gianino IL Gibault Catholic 2028 LHP 62 %
8 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 59 %
9 James OConnor IL Nazareth Academy 2028 RHP 59 %
10 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF 50 %
^ Weston Ensign IL Fisher 2028 RHP 50 %
^ Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS 50 %

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 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS 2504 rpm
2 Kamden Johnston IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 RHP 2399 rpm
3 Keegan Crabtree IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 SS 2340 rpm
4 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 2308 rpm
5 Dayne Franks IL Orion 2028 LHP 2038 rpm

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos IVB (avg)
1 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS -15.3 in
2 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP -5.9 in
3 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 5.4 in
4 Kamden Johnston IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 RHP -5.4 in
5 James Sobkowiak IL Downers Grove South 2028 SS -4.0 in

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS -17.0
2 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP -11.2
3 James Sobkowiak IL Downers Grove South 2028 SS -11.1
4 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 10.8
5 Keegan Crabtree IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 SS -9.1

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

Rank Name State School Class Pos Zone %
1 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 100 %
2 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS 75 %
3 Keegan Crabtree IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 SS 71 %
4 James Sobkowiak IL Downers Grove South 2028 SS 57 %
5 Kamden Johnston IL Lincoln-Way East 2028 RHP 44 %


SLIDER

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Weston Ensign IL Fisher 2028 RHP 2277
2 Dayne Franks IL Orion 2028 LHP 2254
3 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF 2241
4 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 2123
5 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS 2111

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos IVB (avg)
1 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS 6.3 in
2 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP -4.0 in
3 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 3.8 in
4 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 3.4 in
5 Dayne Franks IL Orion 2028 LHP 3.3 in

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 Mason Trayser IL Oswego East 2028 LHP 10.4
2 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP -10.3
3 Kanon Baxley IL Kaneland 2028 SS -10.2
4 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF -8.2
5 Weston Ensign IL Fisher 2028 RHP -6.2

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

Rank Name State School Class Pos Zone %
1 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP 83 %
2 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF 75 %
3 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 66 %
4 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 60 %
5 Weston Ensign IL Fisher 2028 RHP 55 %


CHANGEUP

SPIN RATE (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos Spin Rate (avg)
1 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 1906 rpm
2 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP 1895 rpm
3 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 1793 rpm
4 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 1757 rpm
5 Dante Gianino IL Gibault Catholic 2028 LHP 1729 rpm

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos IVB (avg)
1 James Sobkowiak IL Downers Grove South 2028 SS 13.5 in
2 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF 10.4 in
3 Mason Trayser IL Oswego East 2028 LHP 9.3 in
4 Dante Gianino IL Gibault Catholic 2028 LHP 8.6 in
5 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP 7.9 in

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

Rank Name State School Class Pos HM (avg)
1 Connor Basinski IL Columbia 2028 RHP 19.0
2 Ryan Pipkins IL Champaign Central 2028 OF 15.8
3 Anderson Kaufmann IL Edwardsville 2028 RHP 15.4
4 Collin Lawlor IL Marist 2028 LHP -15.3
5 Jack Postma IL Barrington 2028 RHP 15.2

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

Rank Name State School Class Pos Zone %
1 Mason Trayser IL Oswego East 2028 LHP 60 %
2 Dante Gianino IL Gibault Catholic 2028 LHP 53 %


+ CLICK HERE for a look at the national positional data dive story.

RELATED CONTENT