Disclosed are systems and methods for positively identifying wellbore projectiles introduced downhole. One well system includes at least one wellbore projectile configured to be introduced into a flow path associated with a work string arranged within a wellbore and extending from a wellhead installation, at least one optical computing device in optical communication with the flow path and having at least one integrated computational element configured to detect a characteristic of the at least one wellbore projectile and generate a resulting output signal indicative of the characteristic of the at least one wellbore projectile, and a computational system configured to receive the resulting output signal and associate the resulting output signal with a size or configuration of the at least one wellbore projectile.