The Utah Top Prospect Games brought together top prospects from across the state for Utah’s premier invite-only event of the summer. Players from the 2027–2029 classes competed at BYU’s Miller Park in front of the Prep Baseball Utah scouting staff.

Position players completed a full pro-style workout featuring TrackMan hitting data, VALD athletic testing, defensive evaluations, and live gameplay. Pitchers were evaluated during game action, with velocity, spin rate, movement profiles, and additional pitch data collected throughout the event.

We now take a look at the top overall metrics from the arms Utah Top Prospect Games, with impressive numbers recorded across all three graduating classes.

JUMP TO: FASTBALL | CURVEBALL | SLIDER | CHANGEUP 

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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 higher 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/changeups for creating depth. It also has 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.

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. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

HIGHEST AVG. IVB

HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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CHANGEUP

HIGHEST AVG. HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT

AVG. IVB

HIGHEST STRIKE ZONE RATE%

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