Prep Baseball Report

2026 Columbia Preseason ID: Trackman Hitting Leaders


Sammy Esposito
PB SC Director of Scouting

The Columbia Preseason ID is set for Saturday, January 17th, at D-BAT Columbia in Columbia, SC. The Preseason IDs help update evaluations and metrics. This setting provides a prime opportunity for prospects to strengthen their Prep Baseball profiles and position themselves for invitations to premier summer events such Carolina Border Battle, SC Top Prospect Games, Prep Baseball Future Games, JR Future Games, and SR Future Games.

The Preseason ID plays a crucial role on the Prep Baseball calendar, serving as an early identification point before the SCHSL season. These events allow our scouting staff, and college recruiters, to establish a strong follow list entering the spring. Our staff strategically hosts preseason events across the state with the goal of identifying emerging prospects who have capitalized on the offseason, while also re-evaluating known players trending upward. Complete player profiles, including tech metrics, statistics, video, and detailed scouting reports, will be published on the Prep Baseball Report website, which is followed by more than 1,000 college programs nationwide.

The event began with A pro-style workout for all the position players followed that included running a laser timed 60 recorded using Vald Preformance Technology, pitcher bullpens with each pitch tracked by Trackman, a defensive evaluation, and finished with BP with TrackMan ball flight analysis.

Below we will look at the statistical breakdown for the event.

CLICK HERE to see full stats and roster

Trackman Leaders - Hitting

PEAK EXIT VELOCITY

TrackMan is able to track every ball hit into fair territory, throughout the BP sessions.  Below are the exit velocities produced by individual players.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (max)
1 Zak Perry SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 RHP 98.5 mph
2 Mason Phelps SC Lexington 2029 2B 95.8 mph
3 Kooper Evans SC Beaufort 2029 3B 94.8 mph
4 Benjamin Balliet SC Fox Creek 2028 OF 92.4 mph
5 Sam Dennis SC Greenville Academy 2029 C 92.1 mph
6 Ethan Crosby SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 3B 90.4 mph
7 JJ Caulder SC South Florence 2028 RHP 88.9 mph
8 Dylan McKey SC Mountain View Prep 2028 OF 88.1 mph
9 Reid Levesque SC Nation Ford 2028 RHP 87.5 mph
10 Caden Guy SC Chapin 2027 SS 87.1 mph

AVERAGE EXIT VELOCITY

The average exit velocity measures a players ability to consistently produce hard contact.  The average was taken based on every ball tracked by TrackMan throughout the player's BP session.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Exit Velocity (avg)
1 Zak Perry SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 RHP 87.8 mph
2 Sam Dennis SC Greenville Academy 2029 C 86.8 mph
3 Ethan Crosby SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 3B 83.8 mph
4 Kooper Evans SC Beaufort 2029 3B 83.0 mph
5 JJ Caulder SC South Florence 2028 RHP 82.9 mph
6 Dylan McKey SC Mountain View Prep 2028 OF 80.7 mph
7 Benjamin Balliet SC Fox Creek 2028 OF 79.2 mph
8 Johnathan Cosmopoulos SC Lexington 2028 SS 77.5 mph
9 Caden Guy SC Chapin 2027 SS 76.2 mph
10 Mason Phelps SC Lexington 2029 2B 75.3 mph

DISTANCE OFF THE BAT

TrackMan is able to measure and track the ball while in the air.  For every fair ball put in play it will display the distance the hit traveled.

Peak Distance - Best of the Hitter’s Session

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (max)
1 Zak Perry SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 RHP 361 ft
2 Mason Phelps SC Lexington 2029 2B 336 ft
3 Dylan McKey SC Mountain View Prep 2028 OF 334 ft
4 Benjamin Balliet SC Fox Creek 2028 OF 306 ft
5 Ethan Crosby SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 3B 291 ft
6 JJ Caulder SC South Florence 2028 RHP 285 ft
7 Reid Levesque SC Nation Ford 2028 RHP 284 ft
8 Johnathan Cosmopoulos SC Lexington 2028 SS 282 ft
9 Sam Dennis SC Greenville Academy 2029 C 278 ft
10 Simms Leitner SC Rock Hill 2028 SS 276 ft

Average Distance - Average of each ball tracked in the Session

Rank Name State School Class Pos Distance (avg)
1 Zak Perry SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 RHP 268 ft
2 Ethan Crosby SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 3B 254 ft
3 Dylan McKey SC Mountain View Prep 2028 OF 220 ft
4 JJ Caulder SC South Florence 2028 RHP 211 ft
5 Sam Dennis SC Greenville Academy 2029 C 198 ft
6 Benjamin Balliet SC Fox Creek 2028 OF 194 ft
7 Mason Phelps SC Lexington 2029 2B 190 ft
8 Reid Levesque SC Nation Ford 2028 RHP 185 ft
9 Johnathan Cosmopoulos SC Lexington 2028 SS 170 ft
10 Simms Leitner SC Rock Hill 2028 SS 160 ft

LAUNCH ANGLE PERCENTAGE

Based on the ball flight, TrackMan is able to identify each hit as a ground ball, line drive, or fly ball.  While there are many factors as to why a hitter may approach each pitch in a certain way, the overall groupings of BP can give some insight to each hitter's approach.

Line Drive %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Line Drive %
1 Ethan Crosby SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 3B 57 %
2 Sam Dennis SC Greenville Academy 2029 C 54 %
^ Zak Perry SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 RHP 54 %
3 Dylan McKey SC Mountain View Prep 2028 OF 50 %
^ JJ Caulder SC South Florence 2028 RHP 50 %
4 Benjamin Balliet SC Fox Creek 2028 OF 45 %
5 Johnathan Cosmopoulos SC Lexington 2028 SS 41 %
6 Skylar Hartwig SC Lexington 2030 C 40 %
7 Mason Phelps SC Lexington 2029 2B 36 %
8 Simms Leitner SC Rock Hill 2028 SS 33 %
^ Coltyn Carr SC Hanahan 2029 2B 33 %
9 Reid Levesque SC Nation Ford 2028 RHP 28 %
10 Caden Guy SC Chapin 2027 SS 25 %

Fly Ball %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Fly Ball %
1 Zak Perry SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 RHP 45.5 %
2 Simms Leitner SC Rock Hill 2028 SS 44.4 %
3 Reid Levesque SC Nation Ford 2028 RHP 42.9 %
4 Coltyn Carr SC Hanahan 2029 2B 33.3 %
^ Dylan McKey SC Mountain View Prep 2028 OF 33.3 %
^ Johnathan Cosmopoulos SC Lexington 2028 SS 33.3 %
5 Skylar Hartwig SC Lexington 2030 C 30.0 %
6 Ethan Crosby SC Gray Collegiate Academy 2027 3B 28.6 %
7 Benjamin Balliet SC Fox Creek 2028 OF 27.3 %
^ Mason Phelps SC Lexington 2029 2B 27.3 %
8 JJ Caulder SC South Florence 2028 RHP 20.0 %
9 Sam Dennis SC Greenville Academy 2029 C 18.2 %
10 Kooper Evans SC Beaufort 2029 3B 16.7 %

Ground Ball %

Rank Name State School Class Pos Ground Ball %
1 Caden Guy SC Chapin 2027 SS 75 %
2 Kooper Evans SC Beaufort 2029 3B 66 %
3 Coltyn Carr SC Hanahan 2029 2B 33 %
4 JJ Caulder SC South Florence 2028 RHP 30 %
5 Reid Levesque SC Nation Ford 2028 RHP 28 %
6 Benjamin Balliet SC Fox Creek 2028 OF 27 %
^ Mason Phelps SC Lexington 2029 2B 27 %
^ Sam Dennis SC Greenville Academy 2029 C 27 %
7 Johnathan Cosmopoulos SC Lexington 2028 SS 25 %
8 Simms Leitner SC Rock Hill 2028 SS 22 %
9 Skylar Hartwig SC Lexington 2030 C 20 %
10 Dylan McKey SC Mountain View Prep 2028 OF 16 %