Spring Statcast Standouts

Kansas City's Spring Training leaders in exit velocity, hard-hit rate, whiff rate and more

Photo courtesy of AP/Charlie Riedel

Just like that, Cactus League play is over. An Opening Day matchup pitting the Royals against the defending American League Central champion Cleveland Guardians is set for Thursday, the first salvo in what will surely be a dogged race for the division crown between these two, Detroit and Minnesota.

Before Cole Ragans lets loose that first pitch of 2025, let’s rewind a bit and dive into the Statcast data from spring. With the roster mostly set — the pitching staff is locked in already, in fact — we’re not using this information to determine bench spots or DFA’s.

They’re just fun to look at.

Well, they’re actually a bit more than that. Some of the figures may provide a bit of signal moving forward, like a player posting a new maximum exit velocity (potentially a nod to untapped power) or a pitcher ratcheting up the spin rate on a curveball (possibly unlocking an enhanced movement profile).

Royals Hitters

Maximum Exit Velocity

1. Vinnie Pasquantino, 117.5 MPH; represents a massive jump from his career-high 112.7 MPH max EV and would’ve tied him for sixth in MLB last season with Aaron Judge. Pasquantino tapping into an elite power tier as he matures would be a huge boon for the Royals lineup, but he’ll need to overcome a recent hamstring strain to open the season.

2. Jac Caglianone, 115.4 MPH; get used to seeing Caglianone’s name on the max EV lists — he’s got the kind of raw power that could potentially lead the league in exit velocity readings.

3. Dairon Blanco, 113.2 MPH; a 3.6 MPH increase from his career-high 109.6 MPH.

4. Bobby Witt Jr., 112.8 MPH

5. Bryan Gonzalez, 112 MPH

Average Exit Velocity (min. 10 batted balls)

1. Hunter Renfroe, 95.7 MPH

2. Maikel Garcia, 95.6 MPH; as a borderline elite defender and baserunner, Garcia brings a lot of underappreciated value to the table for the Royals. He’s always carried quality batted-ball metrics, but if he can take another step forward at the plate, he’ll truly be a massively impactful, versatile piece for manager Matt Quatraro.

3. Vinnie Pasquantino, 95.4 MPH

   

4. Tyler Tolbert, 94.7 MPH; a bit of a spring surprise, Tolbert is known much more for his wheels than his power, but he did show off some pop in Surprise.

5. Jac Caglianone, 94.6 MPH

Hard-Hit Rate (min. 10 batted balls)

1. Maikel Garcia, 61.3%

2. Tyler Tolbert, 60%

3. Peyton Wilson, 58.3%

4. Drew Waters, 58.3%; Waters had a hard time making contact this spring with a 44.2% whiff rate, but when he did put bat to ball, it was usually with a 95+ MPH EV.

5. Vinnie Pasquantino, 57.9%

Barrel Rate (min. 10 batted balls)

1. Jac Calianone, 25%

2. Hunter Renfroe, 17.4%

3. Joey Wiemer, 17.4%

4. Bobby Witt Jr., 11.1%

5. Tyler Tolbert/Dairon Blanco, 10%

O-Swing/Chase Rate (min. 10 plate appearances)

1. Cavan Biggio, 4.9%

2. Nick Loftin, 12.3%; Biggio and Loftin each made strong cases for the Opening Day roster as similar players (versatile defenders with good plate discipline) and those plate skills were on full display for each throughout spring.

3. John Rave, 14.3%

4. Gavin Cross, 14.6%

5. Jonathan India, 15.3%; a massive boost in the leadoff spot for this year’s Royals, India’s patient approach and ability to lay off pitches outside the strike zone will pay huge dividends in 2025.

Whiff Rate (min. 10 plate appearances)

1. Jonathan India, 8%

2. Vinnie Pasquantino, 9.1%

3. Maikel Garcia, 9.4%

4. Luke Maile, 11.4%

5. Kyle Isbel, 13.8%

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Royals Pitchers

Average Pitch Velocity (min. 5 pitches)

1. Junior Fernandez, Four-Seam Fastball, 98.4 MPH

2. Junior Fernandez, Sinker, 98.1 MPH; Fernandez throws gas with not one but two fastball variations, giving Kansas City some relief depth in the minors heading into 2025.

3. Steven Cruz, Four-Seam Fastball, 97.1 MPH

4. Lucas Erceg, Four-Seam Fastball, 97 MPH

5. Lucas Erceg, Sinker, 96.9 MPH; Luinder Avila, Four-Seam Fastball, 96.9 MPH

Whiff Rate (min. 10 plate appearances)

1. Luinder Avila, 45.8%

2. Lucas Erceg, 42%; the Royals fireman’s velocity was down a touch in Spring Training, but it didn’t impact his ability to make hitters look foolish.

3. Cruz Noriega, 41.4%

4. Junior Fernandez, 40.5%

5. Steven Zobac, 34.3%

Average Positive Induced Vertical Break (min. 5 pitches)

1. Michael Wacha, Four-Seam Fastball, +18.4 Inches

   

2. Brandon Johnson, Four-Seam Fastball, +18.2 Inches

3. Ross Stripling, Four-Seam Fastball, +18.1 Inches

4. Carlos Estevez, Four-Seam Fastball, +17.3 Inches

5. Kris Bubic, Four-Seam Fastball, +17.3 Inches

Average Negative Induced Vertical Break (min. 5 pitches)

1. Sam Long, Curveball, -14.5 Inches

2. Ross Stripling, Knuckle Curve, -13.4 Inches

3. Michael Wacha, Curveball, -13.3 Inches

4. Seth Lugo, Curveball, -13.3 Inches

5. Michael Lorenzen, Curveball, -13.2 Inches

Average Positive (Arm-Side/Run) Horizontal Break (min. 5 pitches)

1. Lucas Erceg, Changeup, 17.1 Inches

2. Seth Lugo, Changeup, +16.9 Inches

3. Ben Sears, Sinker, +16.7 Inches

4. Beck Way, Changeup, +16.6 Inches

5. Beck Way, Sinker, +16.5 Inches

Average Negative (Glove-Side/Sweep) Horizontal Break (min. 5 pitches)

1. Seth Lugo, Slurve, -15.8 Inches

2. Chris Stratton, Curveball, -15.7 Inches

3. John Schreiber, Sweeper, -14.2 Inches

4. Tyson Guerrero, Slider, -14 Inches

5. Seth Lugo, Curveball, -13.5 Inches; yes, of course Lugo shows up over and over and over here in the pitch movement charts. He showed off nine recorded pitches this spring, boasting his innate ability to manipulate the baseball.

Average Pitch Spin Rate (min. 5 pitches)

1. Seth Lugo, Curveball, 3,180 RPM

2. Chris Stratton, Curveball, 3,061 RPM

3. Seth Lugo, Slurve, 2,902 RPM

4. Luinder Avila, Curveball, 2,881 RPM; Avila looks like he could pitch out of the Kansas City bullpen right now, but fortunately, he doesn’t need to. There’s plenty of relief depth for the Royals, allowing Avila to continue developing as a starter unless/until he’s needed to whip this high-spin curveball at Major League opponents.

   

5. Jacob Wallace, Slurve, 2,840 RPM

tjStuff+ Overall (min. 10 plate appearances)

1. Steven Zobac, 104 tjStuff+

2. Steven Cruz, 104 tjStuff+

3. Andrew Hoffman, 103 tjStuff+

4. Junior Fernandez, 103 tjStuff+

5. Jonathan Bowlan/Hunter Harvey/Cole Ragans, 102 tjStuff+

tjStuff+ by Individual Pitch (min. 5 pitches)

1. Andrew Hoffman, Changeup, 112 tjStuff+; I absolutely love this pitch and Hoffman’s tweaks to make it an offering he can rely on in 2025 in Omaha. He added nine inches of drop and took off a bit of arm-side run while adding about 1 MPH to the pitch. This helped it gain an absurd 23 points in the tjStuff+ system year-over-year.

   

2. Chris Stratton, Curveball, 108 tjStuff+

3. Tyson Guerrero, Slider, 108 tjStuff+

4. Cole Ragans, Slider, 107 tjStuff+

5. Steven Cruz, Slider, 107 tjStuff+

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With Spring Training in the rearview, it’s time to turn our attention to the 2025 regular season. On Thursday, I’ll publish my season preview, loaded with a record prediction, American League Central prognostication, X-factors for the Royals and much, much more. Subscribe for free to receive this in-depth look at the upcoming season in your inbox just hours before first pitch on Opening Day.