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The television broadcast radar gun reading drew gasps. Never before had it displayed a number this high: 106 mph.
Angels reliever Ben Joyce turned his back to home plate to take a peek at the scoreboard, then tugged at his belt buckle and allowed himself a smile. The now-you-see-it, did-I-actually-see-it fastball that struck out Tommy Edman of the Dodgers on Tuesday night was precisely 105.5 mph — the broadcast had rounded up — making it the third-fastest pitch recorded since radar guns were introduced in the 1980s.
Only reliever Aroldis Chapman has thrown faster pitches, touching 105.8 mph in 2010 and 105.7 mph in 2016.
Even in an era when extreme velocity is prized and more triple-digit fastballs are recorded than ever, Joyce is the most likely candidate to hit 106 mph — no rounding necessary. After all, he threw a pitch 105.5 mph while at the University of Tennessee in 2022, two months before the Angels selected him in the third round of the MLB draft.
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He’s touched 104.8 mph twice this season and his four-seam fastball has averaged 102.1 mph.
“I think 105, any harder than that, good luck to anyone in that ball’s direction,” Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe said.
Can Joyce throw harder?
“I would like to think so,” he said. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Joyce’s pitch to Edman was the fastest thrown on a strikeout, a knee-high four-seamer that the Dodgers utility man swung through to end the ninth.
“I looked up right after and saw it,” Joyce said. “It was just a big-time game and all the fans were into it. So I feel like that helped a little bit. It was two strikes, so I kind of just tried to give everything I had.”
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Joyce exited after the inning and the Dodgers scored four runs in the 10th — highlighted by Mookie Betts’ three-run homer after Shohei Ohtani was walked intentionally — to win 6-2 at Angel Stadium.
Since giving up five earned runs in his first three outings after being promoted from the minors in early June, Joyce, 22, has posted a 0.83 earned-run average in 28 appearances. He inherited the closer role when the Angels traded Carlos Estévez on July 27 and has four saves.
Throwing as hard as Joyce does invites peril, and the Angels are judicious in his usage. Only twice has he pitched on consecutive days and only twice has he thrown more than 30 pitches in a game.
Calculating velocity wasn’t precise until about 20 years ago, making it difficult to compare Joyce and Chapman to legendary flamethrowers such as Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan, who avoided injury while amassing staggering numbers. But the pitcher who threw hardest before Chapman isn’t exactly a household name.
Joel “Zoom Zoom” Zumaya pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 2006-2010 and hurled a 104.8-mph fastball to Frank Thomas in the 2006 American League Championship Series that was the fastest pitch recorded until Chapman’s 105.8 reading in 2010. Zumaya threw other pitches that touched 104 mph, including one that Ken Griffey Jr. crushed for a grand slam.
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But Zumaya had control problems and was plagued by injuries on and off the field. He broke a bone in his elbow while pitching in June 2010 and re-injured the elbow while attempting a comeback two years later. He retired with a 3.05 ERA over 209 2/3 innings with 210 strikeouts and 114 walks.
Chapman, by contrast, has enjoyed a 15-year career. The Cuban left-hander has appeared in 786 games, and counting, and is still effective at 36. He was a 22-year-old rookie with the Cincinnati Reds mopping up in the eighth inning of a loss to the San Diego Padres when he unleashed the 105.8-mph pitch to Tony Gwynn Jr.
All 25 pitches Chapman threw in his 1 1/3-inning stint were fastballs and all were triple digits. Three were clocked at 104 mph.
“I didn’t see it until the ball was behind me,” Gwynn said of the record pitch. “I was trying not to look at the radar reading because I’d be intimidated.”
That’s probably good strategy against Joyce as well. On Aug. 22, he became the first to throw three pitches 103 mph or faster in the same at-bat when he struck out the Kansas City Royals’ Bobby Witt. The first pitch was 104.8 mph, the second 104.5 mph and the third 103.2 mph. Witt, one of the best young hitters in baseball, swung through all three.
“Joyce is gonna be something special,” Angels manager Ron Washington said after Joyce notched first career save Aug. 3 by striking out J.D. Martinez of the New York Mets on a 104.7-mph fastball. “Every time you tell him something that educates him, he finds a way to use it.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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