One aspect of the MLB Draft League that sets itself apart from other summer baseball leagues is its access and utilization of data capture. Each ballpark is equipped to capture live, in-game metrics and video to help further develop and scout the league’s prospects ahead of the MLB Draft.
Working with each team’s Data Coordinators, every week we’ll share a select group of players, or “Data Darlings”, who throughout the week and season have set themselves apart from the league, their trends and how it has impacted their summers.
Jake Geis, Aberdeen: A fastball, slider, curveball and changeup is what the LMU product is armed with, inducing plenty of whiffs and chase. The fastball sits 92.3 mph with a top velocity of 94.9 and features 2,270 rpm on average. Geis achieves 17.9 inches of induced vertical break with 22.4” being the most and 7.5” of horizontal break. Finding the zone 60% of the time, batters carry a whiff rate of 44.4% against the heater. The slider, with tight movement, has between two to four inches of glove-side movement, ranging from 83 to 86 mph and around 2,400 rpm of spin. Overall, batters whiff 57.1% of the time and have even chased at a 75% clip. Sitting 77.9 mph, Geis’ curveball ticks up in spin at 2685 rpm with plenty of depth at -10.7” of IVB and -11.9” of HB on average. The changeup has rarely been thrown but has never been touched, averaging 84.1 mph, spinning 1,739 rpm with 9.3” IVB and 12.1” HB. Overall, Geis has used his mix to generate a 50% whiff rate, 35.3% when in the zone and has seen batters chase 36.7% of the time.
Jeremiah Newman, Mahoning Valley: Out of Akron, Newman possesses an extremely deep arsenal with six offerings. Topping at 96 mph with his sinker, the right-hander also features a four-seamer, both sitting in the 90-92 mph range. The sinker has achieved up to 20.4 inches of arm-side horizontal movement, ranging from 15-18 inches with the traditional heater at eight to 12. The offspeed offerings, a slider and curveball, have done some of the most damage of his arsenal with a combined whiff rate of 58.8%. All coming from out of the zone with a chase rate of 35.5%. The slider sits in the low-80’s and can spin up to 2,700 rpm with around -4 inches of glove-side movement and around -1 inches of induced vertical break. The curveball is high-70s, low-80s with around 2,500 rpm of spin, having a bit more depth from -4 to -6 inches of horizontal break and just as much in induced vertical break. Newman also has a cutter that sits mid to high-80’s with 2.7 inches of arm-side movement and seven inches of induced vertical break, spinning around 2300 rpm and a mid-80’s changeup for an offspeed offering with opposite movement to his breaking balls.
Jackson Rains, State College: Highlighted with a Player of the Week honor, Rains has delivered with power with quality contact and outperforming his expected numbers. Through six games, the Reinhardt product averages 92.6 mph off the bat with a max of an even 104 mph that came on his one home run. The amount of hard-contact from Rains has resulted in a 41.7% hard-hit rate, led by an average exit velocity of 100.2 mph against sliders for a perfect rate. Having an expected batting average of .283, Rains has outdone the projections by hitting .389 with hits in five of his six games. His power is no surprise with a .499 xSLG but the home run and two doubles has resulted in a .667 slugging percentage and the impact of his swings leading to a .507 wOBA compared to a .436 xwOBA.
John Higgins, Trenton: A holdover from the first half, Higgins has turned into a stronger arm out of the bullpen in the second half. Through six innings and five games post-draft, the right-hander has yet to allow a run, striking out six on three hits. From Seton Hall, the Thunder reliever has utilized a fastball, slider, cutter and changeup as a high-leverage, late inning option. In the second half, the fastball averaged 92 mph with 2,159 rpm and topped 93.5 mph and 2,341 rpm. It features 17.6 inches of induced vertical break with nine inches of arm-side horizontal movement. It’s seen some inconsistency finding the zone, however, it’s seen plenty of swings (46.9%) with a high chase rate of 28.6%. The slider has tight horizontal movement ranging from -2 to -5 inches on average, with the most of -7.3, sitting 83.4 mph with 2,292 rpm. It’s seen a higher chase clip than the heater at 46.7% and has also been his swing-and-miss pitch with a 38.5% whiff rate, 33.3% when in the zone. The cutter adds some speed to his horizontal offering at 85.2 mph with 2,504 rpm and features 10.2 inches of IVB and zero to two inches of glove-side movement. The changeup kills spin effectively at 1,364 rpm on average in the low-80s with 10.4 inches of arm-side movement and 4.4” IVB to round out the mix.
Drew Townson, West Virginia: Through 7 1/3 innings, Townson has showcased his ability to spin the ball with his offspeeds and even sinker before dropping below 2,000 rpm on his changeup. The right-hander sits 92-93 mph with his sinker, topping at 95.6 with 2,421 rpm of spin. It features arm-side movement that averages 16.8” with 16” of induced vertical break. Townson locates it well with a zone rate of 57.7%, keeping it on the ground 58.8% of the time it’s been put in play. At 78.6 mph, Townson’s curveball has topped 2,940 rpm of spin while averaging 2,833 with -8.6 and -8.7 inches of induced vertical and horizontal break respectively. As his second breaking ball, the slider spins just a bit more on average of 2,884 rpm and has topped at 3,039 rpm in his start on Thursday, July 16. At 81.5 mph, it carries -1.5” IVB with -9 inches of horizontal movement. With a more true horizontal shape, Townson has utilized it as a swing-and-miss pitch with a 60% whiff rate, seeing batters wave a third of the time in the zone. His changeup was only showcased twice but the Fresno State graduate killed the spin to 1,715 rpm (82.5 mph) and 1,862 rpm (83 mph) with 18.7 and 16.9 inches of arm-side movement respectively.
James McCoy, Williamsport: With three home runs, two of them went to the opposite field with the third being the third hardest-hit one of the second half. The first towered to left with a launch angle of 45°, traveling 332 feet with an exit velocity of 95.8 mph on the final day of the first half. The second came with some more juice at 102.2 mph off the bat, traveling 396 feet. The third, coming to close out the most recent week, was his first of three hits on the day that rocketed to right at 108.2 mph, traveling 420.5 feet which would be the 15th farthest home run of the summer and second deepest of the second half. The ability to drive the ball highlights his impressive barrel rate of 23.3% and hard-hit rate of 43.3%.
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