Three Sub-Seven, Five 85+ in Milwaukee
On Sunday, September 13 the Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout tour rolled through Wisconsin, with a stop at Milwaukee Area Technical College. The MATC Stormers compete in the NJCAA in the North Central Community College Conference (N4C) honors, and saw two players receive All-N4C honors following their 2015 season.
Our event saw three players post sub-seven second 60-yard dash times, and five players record velocities of at least 85 mph. Of the qualifying velocities, one was a raw velocity while the others were recorded off the bat.
As is often the case, we saw performances marking improvement from a handful of returning players. Those instances are noted below, along with the top performers by measurable category.
60-Yard Dash
| Sec | 60-Yard Dash Leaders |
| 6.90 | Ryan Bigalke (OF – 2017 – Whitnall HS – Greenfield, WI) |
| 6.96 | Andre Gordon, Jr. (OF – 2018 – Sussex Hamilton HS – Memomonee Falls, WI) |
| 6.97 | Dillon Peters (C – 2017 – Whitnall HS – Greenfield, WI) |
2018 SS Johannes Haakenson
Last September at the Milwaukee, WI Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout & College PREP, 2018 SS Johannes Haakenson (Evansville HS – Janesville, WI) ran 8.40 in the 60-yard dash. A couple of months later (and still prior to his freshman season), he went to the Baseball Factory Select Training & Competition at Pirate City to work on his skills and to compete in live game situations under the supervision of our coaches.
Following his freshman season in high school, he attended the California Select Training & Competition in July 2015, where he showed well and started to see some measurable progress. He got his 60-yard dash down to 7.94 (an improvement of nearly a half-second) and his raw velocity up to 71 mph (an improvement of three miles per hour) — both excellent improvements in less than one year.
Most recently, and one year after we first saw him, he got his 60-yard dash down to 7.81 to continue his progress as a runner. His hitting ability and raw power also improved, with both tools moving up by a quarter-grade on the Baseball Factory 10-70 Scouting Scale.
Raw Velocity
| mph | Raw Velocity Leaders |
| 85 | Ryan Bigalke (OF – 2017 – Whitnall HS – Greenfield, WI) |
| 83 | Kyle Murphy (OF – 2016 – Cedarburg, WI HS) |
Fastball Velocity
| mph | Fastball Velocity Leaders |
| 83 | Garrett McGraw (RHP/3B – 2016 – Lodi, WI HS) |
| 81 | Hunter Martindale (RHP – 2017 – Beloit Turner HS – Beloit, WI) |
| 81 | Andrew Wilson (3B/RHP – 2016 – Racine Lutheran HS – Mount Pleasant, WI) |
At the August 2012 River Forest, IL Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout, RHP/1B Levi Gerlach of Ottawa, IL (an 8th-grader at the time) threw his fastball 71-73 mph and ran 8.85 in the 60-yard dash.
He didn’t see any progress with his fastball velocity through the December 2012 Baseball Factory Christmas Camp & Tournament at Vero Beach and the July 2013 Baseball Factory National World Series at Pirate City, but his 60 yard dash improved by more than eight-tenths of a second — down from 8.85 to 8.02.
A few months after Pirate City, Gerlach (now a freshman at Ottawa HS) attended the McCook, IL December 2013 Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout, where he started to see the work from his previous events payoff — his fastball bumped up to 75 mph, marking a solid improvement in just over one year. His breaking ball jumped up as well, moving from a range of 60-63 mph up to 68-70 mph. At the August 2014 Champaign, IL Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout he ran his fastball up to 81 mph — marking an increase of eight mph in just two years.
Earlier this summer at the Baseball Factory National World Series at Pirate City, Gerlach (now a rising Junior) was 78-80 mph with his fastball, and got his breaking ball velocity into the low 70s. While his velocity was about the same as we’d seen most recently, his 60-yard dash continued to improve. He posted a 7.66 this time out, marking an improvement of more than a full second in just under three years.
This time out, he was up to 78 mph with his fastball and spun a mid-to-upper 60s breaking ball. He didn’t run as well as we’ve seen from him as of late, but his overall progress since August 2012 is still noteworthy.
Bat Exit Velocity
| mph | Bat Exit Velocity Leaders |
| 87 | Hunter Martindale (RHP – 2017 – Beloit Turner HS – Beloit, WI) |
| 86 | Kasey Chambers (3B – 2016 – Kaukauna, WI HS) |
| 86 | Garrett McGraw (RHP/3B – 2016 – Lodi, WI HS) |
| 85 | Kyle Murphy (OF – 2016 – Cedarburg, WI HS) |
| 83 | Kyle Birkett (SS – 2018 – Parker HS – Janesville, WI) |
| 83 | Chad Wagner (2B – 2016 – Hartford HS – Richfield, WI) |
| 82 | Weston Sterwald (RHP – 2018 – Oconomowoc HS – Neosho, WI) |
We didn’t test bat exit velocity when we saw 2016 3B Kasey Chambers (Kaukauna, WI) for the first time two at the September 2013 Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout here in Milwaukee, but based on his improvements in other measures it’s a safe bet his September 2015 mark of 86 mph would have been a step forward.
In 2013, he ran 7.73 in the 60-yard dash and posted 73 mph raw velocity. Now, two years later, he trimmed almost three-tenths of a second off his 60-yard dash (down from 7.73 to 7.45) and gained three mph raw velocity (up from 73 to 76 mph).
Catcher Release Time
| sec | Catcher Pop Time Leaders |
| 2.20 | Thomas Ross (C/2B – 2018 – Lake Park HS – Roselle, IL) |
2018 C/2B Thomas Ross
Last summer at the Champaign, IL Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout, 2018 C/2B Thomas Ross (Roselle, IL) posted pop times between 2.29-2.40, raw velocity of 73 mph and ran 8.25 in the 60-yard dash. A few months later, at the Baseball Factory National Spring Training at Pirate City, his numbers checked in about the same.
Now, a little more than a year later, he dropped his low end pop time from 2.29 to 2.20, and trimmed the high end of his range from 2.40 to 2.35. In addition, he added two mph to his raw velocity (up from 73 to 75 mph) and lowered his 60-yard dash by more than three-tenths of a second (down from 8.25 to 7.94).
The Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout Tour is rolling through all 50 states. Tryouts are held for players ages 12-14 and 14-18. Don’t miss your opportunity to Be Discovered.
Find an Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout near you and register online or call (800) 641-4487.
