The Taiwan Select Showcase marked a historic milestone for Prep Baseball, as it expanded its footprint beyond the Americas for the first time. The showcase was spearheaded by Prep Baseball representatives: David Sharp, Regional Supervisor for the Deep South; Austin Sharp, Scouting Director for Alabama; and Brett Harrison, Regional Supervisor for the West Coast.

Adding to this momentous occasion, Chih-Kang Kao (高志綱), the Premier 12 Championship-winning coach of Taiwan's national team, served as the event's Brand Ambassador. The Taiwan Select Showcase will gather over 100 elite players from middle school, high school, and college levels, offering them greater opportunities to be seen by pro scouts and coaches.

Our staff utilized our advanced sports technology partners, including TrackMan, VALD, and Blast Motion, to provide players with precise performance data, helping them better understand and showcase their abilities. With all of the data and statistics now collected, our staff will begin rolling out event leaderboards over the next week as we take a look at the top performers from the historic event in Taiwan.

Earlier this week, we began our post-event coverage within our Positional Leaderboards and Hitting Data Dive articles. Today, we will continue to highlight top performers from the event within this Pitching Data Dive as we bring you the top data from the bullpen session in Taiwan.

To view Complete event results, click here.

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2022-2026 CLASSES

FASTBALL

MAX VELOCITY (MPH)

Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.

SPIN RATE (MAX)

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.)

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. IVB is also a huge part of the vertical approach angle.

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.”

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

CURVEBALL

SPIN RATE (MAX)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

SLIDER

SPIN RATE (MAX)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

CHANGEUP

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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2027-2030 CLASSES

FASTBALL

MAX VELOCITY (MPH)

Max Fastball Velocity: This metric calculates the speed of the pitch as it’s released from the pitcher’s hand.

SPIN RATE (MAX)

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.)

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. IVB is also a huge part of the vertical approach angle.

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.”

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

CURVEBALL

SPIN RATE (MAX)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

SLIDER

SPIN RATE (MAX)

INDUCED VERTICAL BREAK (AVG.)

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%

CHANGEUP

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT (AVG.)

STRIKE ZONE RATE%