Dirtbags Scout Day: Data Dive - Pitchers
June 16, 2026
The 2026 Prep Baseball Scout Day: Dirtbags brought together players from the 2027-2030 graduating classes for a comprehensive evaluation of one of North Carolina's premier travel baseball organizations. Throughout the day, players participated in a pro-style workout designed to provide measurable data, updated evaluations, and video coverage for college coaches and professional scouts following the organization.
The event began with offensive workouts where multiple rounds of batting practice were tracked using TrackMan technology, collecting detailed batted-ball metrics and analytics while video captured each swing for further evaluation.
Position players then moved into defensive and running evaluations, featuring laser-timed 60-yard dash and 10-yard split data to measure athleticism and explosiveness. Defensively, players worked through position-specific drills and game-action scenarios, allowing the Prep Baseball scouting staff to evaluate athleticism, footwork, hands, exchanges, arm action, and overall defensive ability while recording arm-strength metrics across the field.
Pitchers concluded the workout with controlled bullpen sessions that incorporated TrackMan data and video analysis, providing detailed insight into pitch metrics, movement profiles, velocity, and overall arsenal effectiveness.
Over the coming days, Prep Baseball NC will continue releasing scouting notes, player reports, and statistical leaderboards from the Dirtbags Scout Day as we highlight the top performers and emerging prospects from the event.
More information, including the full roster, statistics, and event leaderboards, can be found here:
DIRTBAGS SCOUT DAY DATA DIVE - PITCHERS
FASTBALL
MAX FASTBALL 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 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, and it’s also important to consider the pitch’s velocity as well as its release height when evaluating IVB measurements against each other.
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.”
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.
CURVEBALL
HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE
HIGHEST AVG. IVB
HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT
SLIDER
HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE
HIGHEST AVG. IVB
HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT
CHANGEUP
HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT
HIGHEST AVG. IVB
HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%
+ Click here to view the event statistics in its entirety.