Blast Motion Player of the Week: Gavin Mez (NV)

(Link to the original post here)

There is a lot to like about Gavin Mez. The UNLV commit put on an impressive showing at the Nevada Procase. When looking at Gavin’s swing by swing data and the new player report featured in Blast Connect, you can see a strong floor and a high ceiling for Gavin to be successful at the next level.

The first thing we like to look at when evaluating a player is their bat speed. We’ve seen enough player’s data at Blast to know that bat speed is definitely a prerequisite for success at the next level, and luckily for Gavin (and evaluators everywhere) he has it. Gavin averaged 71.6 mph bat speed and peaked out at 74 mph. That's right inside our pro player average and shows that Gavin has the raw strength to hit for power or at least hit the ball hard consistently.

The 2nd part of the evaluation comes with figuring out if Gavin can use that power efficiently at the next level without sacrificing swing and misses. That's where rotational acceleration comes in. Rotational acceleration reveals how fast you can accelerate into your bat speed and is measured at the very beginning of the swing. Gavin averaged around 16 g’s of rotational acceleration and even got up close to 20g’s, peaking at 19.5. This shows that Gavin is equipped to make late decisions on pitches, because he can accelerate into his bat speed so quickly. This shows that he’s less vulnerable to off speed pitches and fastballs with high spin compared to most players at his level and the next. Gavin has what we like to call power efficiency.

 Now the third thing we like to look at in a player is if they’re equipped to have a high percentage of making contact. For this we look at On-Plane Efficiency & Attack Angle. On-Plane Efficiency shows the percentage of your swing that stays on-plane of the incoming pitch. From our large sample size of hitters and swings we’ve captured at Blast; we know that if you have an average of 70% or higher you have a higher percentage of making contact consistently. Gavin averaged 73% in a 24 swing sample size. That is music to evaluators ears. Now for attack angle, similar to on-plane, you want to look at the averages to get a good understanding of what is the angle of the bat Gavin is taking to the ball. The steeper the barrel the more likely he’s going to put the ball in the air, but we don’t want it too steep. We tend to feel more comfortable with hitters who average between 5 deg and 15 deg (but of course with anything there is always more context to consider). Gavin’s attack angle averaged around 11 deg. That's beautiful to see.

 In a nutshell:

So, to reiterate, Gavin has the ability to hit the ball hard consistently without sacrificing swing and misses. He uses his bigger muscles to swing the bat instead of just his arms and hands. He’s equipped to have a high percentage of making content. He consistently takes a strong attack angle to the ball, enabling him to drive the ball for production. Also, from talking to Brett Harrison of PBR - Nevada, he has all the intangibles to be a great player at the next level, he continues to get stronger, he’s a great student, and he holds it down behind the plate with the athleticism to play other positions if needed….*chefs kiss*.