Top Prospect Games: Upperclass – Event Rewind

The Top Prospect Games: Upperclass took place at McCrary Park in Asheboro, NC, on Sunday, October 19, 2025, featuring many of the top 2026 and 2027 graduates from across North Carolina. This invite-only event gathered a deep and talented group of players for a comprehensive day of workouts and live competition in front of Prep Baseball’s scouting staff.

Players opened the day with a pro-style workout, showcasing their offensive and defensive abilities. Athletic testing, powered by VALD Performance, provided verified results for laser-timed 60-yard dashes, jump analytics, and additional movement data. During multiple rounds of batting practice, TrackMan technology captured detailed ball flight metrics, offering a deeper look into each hitter’s offensive profile.

After the workout, players participated in a controlled scrimmage, allowing pitchers and position players to compete in live-game settings.

The Top Prospect Games serve as a vital identifier for Prep Baseball’s regional and national events, including the NC/SC Border Battle and the Tobacco Road Games, both spotlighting top prospects from the Carolinas and beyond.

As we review the event, we’ll highlight the top performers, statistical leaders, and standout prospects who strengthened their profiles heading into the next stage of the recruiting calendar.

CLICK HERE to see the full roster, stats, and analytics.

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TRACKMAN PITCHING DATA - Top Prospect Games Upperclass

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 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.

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.

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CURVEBALL

HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE

HIGHEST AVG. IVB

HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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SLIDER

HIGHEST AVG. SPIN RATE

HIGHEST AVG. IVB

HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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CHANGEUP

HIGHEST AVG. IVB

HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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