2023 High School Slammer Score Days Review
Outliers, names to watch, etc. etc. ... We've got some exciting players!!
In May 2023, we evaluated almost all 300+ of our high school athletes across the 2024, 2025, and 2026 classes - 20 teams in all between the North and South facilities. You can read more about what all went into that here.
Also, as a reminder, give @SlammersAD and @SlammerScore a follow on Twitter. We tweeted the best of every high school player’s data along with video from @SlammersAD. We retweeted all scores of 55 or higher from the @SlammerScore account.
Now that the dust has settled and all of the numbers have been crunched, it’s time for the fun part: leaderboards. Give this a scroll, check out the best of what Slammers has to offer!
Athleticism
Slammers utilizes the Loden Sports Performance Lab App to collect a Rebound Jumps test for each athlete and as a place to input and provide context for 10-yard and 30-yard run splits. The combination of the Rebound Jumps test and the 30-yard sprint with a 10-yard split allows each of our athletes to attain a Power, Quickness, Speed, and Loden Score – a true measure of their raw athleticism that correlates to things that matter on a baseball field. The Loden Score is a comparative to the average 22-year-old competitive athlete (6 is average). (All scores are 0-12)
Loden Score
The Loden Score is an indicator of raw athleticism in an athlete. What kind of engine does this athlete have under the hood? Consider the Loden Score to be the foundation that each athlete has to work off of – it’s not the end-all-be-all, but the Loden Score is a good indicator for potential in an athlete.
A pair of 2025’s in Sean Goldy and Brendan Fritch lead the way as the best pure athletes among the 20 Slammers High School teams.
Loden Speed
Speed is pretty self-explanatory. The first of the Loden Score traits to appear in younger athletes, speed sets the bar for what the engine of the athlete can become. Loden Speed is an index for top-end running speed.
Owen Elser and Kyler Vaughn are in a league of their own when it comes to wheels. A 9 Loden Speed score is exceptional and something that is rare even amongst high-level collegiate and professional baseball players.
Rebound Jumps Power
The average jump power of 3 jumps from the players Rebound Jumps test using the Loden Sports Performance Lab App (Loden Power Points). Power is correlated to exit velocity and throwing velocity (and many other things across a number of sports).
It’s unsurprising that Tyler Weston (as one of only 3 Slammers pitchers to touch 90 mph in their pitching eval) appears at the top of this list. 70 LPP is average for a highly competitive, rising-junior in college and the five guys on this leaderboard are already there.
In case you need a refresher: What is Power + Why is it important?
Rebound Jumps Height
The average jump height of the 3 jumps from the players Rebound Jumps test using the Loden Sports Performance Lab App (inches).
If you can jump high and you maintain that as you mature and add weight, your power is going to go up. Shout out to Sean Goldy, our only high school guy to break 30 in. (Duman 2023 alum and MLB Draft Prospect Walker Martin is another Slammer to have eclipsed 30 in.). Our Rebound Jumps Height leaderboard gives us a peek into the future. The six guys on this list have a fair amount of growing to do… time to get in the weight room.
Pitching
Slammers utilizes Rapsodo to capture bullpens on all pitchers. For evaluation sessions, each pitcher throws either: 5 fastballs, 5 changeups, and 5 breaking pitches (or, if they have multiple unique breaking pitches) 5 fastballs, 4 changeups, 4 sliders, and 4 curveballs. Every throw is captured using Rapsodo’s slow-motion video feature with data overlay. All raw data was run through Slammer’s pitch grader tool.
Pitch Score
The average score based on pitch-specific criteria of all pitches thrown for the evaluation session (0-10).
Grant Shepardson (USF Commit) and Noah Stopnik, a pair of Slammers South righties, lead the way for session pitch score. A high pitch score is a sign that a pitcher has multiple pitches that the data likes.
Max Fastball Velocity
The max velocity attained by each pitcher during their evaluation session.
Five out of the six hardest throwers across the 20 teams are underclassmen! Vedant Sharma leads the way after hitting 91.1 mph during his session.
Fastball Vertical Break
The average vertical movement on each pitcher’s fastball during the evaluation session (inches). Generally speaking, the more vertical break a fastball has, the more the hitter perceives it to rise and the harder it is to square up. These types of fastballs play best at the top of the zone.
Cade Coblentz is the lone Slammers arm to eclipse 20 in. of vertical break on his fastball. With the amount of natural “rise” he has on his fastball, there are a lot of fun ways to develop and optimize what he’s working with.
Refresher: What does vertical break mean on a fastball?
Slider Spin
The average spin rate on each pitcher’s slider during the evaluation session. Generally speaking, the more spin, the more break on the pitch.
Maverick Scarpella is a little bit of an outlier amongst Slammers high school pitchers with his 2500+ rpm slider… AND he’s left-handed!!
Curveball Spin
Similar to the aforementioned slider spin, curveball spin is the average spin rate on each pitcher’s curveball during the evaluation session. Generally speaking, the more spin, the more break on the pitch.
Ryland Carpenter and Noah Stopnik have entered the chat with their 2700+ rpm hooks. Seriously though, that’s a lot of spin which probably means they aren’t easy to get the barrel on.
Fastball-Curveball Vertical Separation
This one is a little trickier to explain. Pitchers can create deception between their fastball and curveball because both pitches spin on the same axis (just in opposite directions). The human eye can’t discern back spin from front spin out of a pitcher’s hand - hence: deception. So, check out the separation Tyler Glasnow creates between his fastball and curveball:
Anyway, Slammers has a whole bunch of guys that create a whole bunch of separation between their fastball and curveball and they should be using that to their advantage on the mound (if they aren’t already). Without further ado…
Clayton Green has a fastball that has 16 in. of vertical break and a curveball with -20.1 in. of vertical break that spin on roughly the same axis: 16 + 20.1 = 36.1 in. of separation for the hitter to cover (in addition to the velocity difference). This is a potential nightmare for the guy in the box.
Slammer Score (Pitch)
A Slammer Score is a number between 20-80; 50 is average; and everything is relative-to-age. So, if you’re a 70 at 15-years-old, that’s exceptional. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll be a 70 at 16 because the goal posts move.
A general list of things that contribute to a higher Slammer Score (Pitch):
Rapsodo Pitching: velocity, spin, movement.
Loden Score: running fast and jumping high.
Pitch – A “Pitch” Slammer Score is generated by combining performance relative-to-age for the Rapsodo “Pitch Score” with performance relative-to-age for the Loden Score.
Maddox Burnett is a lone wolf in the world of 75, but any of the guys listed above coming in at 65+ is pretty darn impressive. College coaches, take a closer look.
Hitting
Slammers utilizes Rapsodo to capture standardized batting practice sessions for all hitters. For evaluation sessions, each hitter takes 15-20 swings with a goal of registering 12-15 batted balls for analysis. A pitching machine is set up at 40 ft. throwing ~60 mph. Every hit is captured using Rapsodo’s slow-motion video feature with data overlay. All raw data was run through Slammer’s BP Quality tool.
Swing Score
The average score based on hit-specific criteria (exit velocity, launch angle, spin rate, spin direction) of all hit balls from the players evaluation session (0-10).
Get ready for a whole lot more of Luc Gaca Thiele. Luc tops this leaderboard with his 7.4 swing score. The 12 guys listed are the only players to eclipse a 7.0 swing score for their respective sessions.
Max Exit Velocity
The hardest hit ball from the players evaluation session.
Austin Bowker backed up the top overall exit velocity with the top average exit velocity (92.6 mph) and an average launch angle of 19.7 degrees (high line drive). He hit it hard, often, and on a line.
Slammer Score (Hit)
A Slammer Score is a number between 20-80; 50 is average; and everything is relative-to-age. So, if you’re a 70 at 15-years-old, that’s exceptional. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll be a 70 at 16 because the goal posts move.
A general list of things that contribute to a higher Slammer Score (Hit):
Rapsodo Hitting: exit velocity, hitting line drives, back-spinning the baseball.
Loden Score: running fast and jumping high.
Hit – A “Hit” Slammer Score is generated by combining performance relative-to-age for the Rapsodo “Session Score” with performance relative-to-age for the Loden Score.
A whole lot of 70+ Slammer Scores to scope on the hitting side. How about a trio of Slammers North underclassmen at the top? If the name Aaron Jaquez rings a bell, you may remember him being cozied up at the Slammers Snow Ball Leaderboard for May. Not bad for a 2026…