ZEBULON, NC -- On Sunday, May 17th, Prep Baseball North Carolina traveled to 5 County Stadium in Zebulon, NC for the 2026 Riptide Scout Day. The event featured players from the 2026-2031 grad classes, providing our scouting staff an opportunity to evaluate talent from across the state in a complete showcase environment.

The workout opened with laser-timed 60-yard dashes, collecting 10-yard split data for all attendees. Position players then went through a full offensive evaluation that included multiple rounds of batting practice on the field with TrackMan technology capturing batted ball and ball flight data. Defensively, players worked through position-specific drills and game-like actions, allowing our staff to evaluate athleticism, footwork, hands, exchanges, arm action, and overall defensive ability while recording arm strength metrics.

finished the event with controlled bullpen sessions as TrackMan collected detailed pitch data, movement profiles, and arsenal information.

In the coming days, Prep Baseball NC will continue releasing scouting notes and statistical leaderboards from the Riptide Scout Day as we break down the top performers and standout performances from the event.

More information from the event can be found here:

Riptide Scout Day

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RIPTIDE 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.

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CURVEBALL

HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE

HIGHEST AVG. IVB

HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

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SLIDER

HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE

HIGHEST AVG. IVB

HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

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CHANGEUP

HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

HIGHEST AVG. IVB

HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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+ Click here to view the event statistics in its entirety.

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