When Tanaka is sharp, he throws about 30 percent fastballs and sprinkles in split-fingered fastballs, sliders and changeups.
|
|
I would throw one or two good fastballs and then two fastballs were up and away, I missed my spot about two feet.
|
|
He threw 25.16 pitches in the eighth inning Tuesday, 221 fastballs and four sliders, and all of his fastballs were clocked at least 23 mph.
|
|
"I'm just trying to get my pitches back — fastballs in, fastballs away and raise (the ball) when I want to and throw some breaking balls," Gray said.
|
|
I knew they threw me a lot of fastballs today.
|
|
Instead, it is throwing fastballs, and throwing lots of them.
|
|
"Bad execution — trying to throw some fastballs up," Gausman said.
|
|
"I threw him three Nolan Ryan fastballs," Knowles said, laughing.
|
|
He has thrown 88 fastballs so far, according to MLB.
|
|
Against the Phillies, several of Syndergaard's fastballs topped 100 m.p.h.
|
|
I mean, this guy throws fastballs by major league hitters.
|
|
They knew: 'I can't throw fastballs past people all the time.
|
|
I kept them off-balance with the slider and located fastballs.
|
|
Early in the season, I struggled hitting fastballs over the plate.
|
|
And both throw fastballs of 403 miles an hour or faster.
|
|
The first time through was a lot of fastballs and cutters.
|
|
The location I think of some fastballs and some sliders today.
|
|
He left some fastballs out over the plate, pretty basic stuff.
|
|
On Tuesday, Yamamoto threw just 33 fastballs but 66 breaking pitches.
|
|
He gave up three hits in the fifth, all on fastballs.
|
|
Hill has baffled opponents with moving fastballs and a wicked curveball.
|
|
He is late on fastballs and ahead on off-speed pitches.
|
|
The north-south approach to pitching — fastballs up and curveballs down — now reigns, although the overall percentage of fastballs keeps dropping, from 64.4 percent in 2002 to 55.2 percent this season, and slider usage is rising.
|
|
I took two fastballs, one for a strike, one for a ball.
|
|
"Fastballs get hit," he said, according to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated.
|
|
He throws sizzling fastballs, vicious sliders — and changeups, curveballs and cutters, too.
|
|
He placed fastballs on the edge of the plate, in and out.
|
|
I think something similar is happening with fastballs, but with a twist.
|
|
And non-fastballs might, on the whole, be more taxing to throw than fastballs, given the biomechanical demands many breaking pitches make on arms (although fastball velocity also seems to have negative effects; this is a complicated area).
|
|
He used high fastballs against overeager Phillies hitters to induce flyouts or strikeouts.
|
|
Next time up, he says, You won't throw him three more straight fastballs.
|
|
Once at Municipal Stadium, he threw soft tosses to Boudreau before throwing fastballs.
|
|
Martin saw eight pitches, all fastballs from 97 to 99 miles per hour.
|
|
"Just throwing four-seam fastballs wasn't going very well for me," Kluber said.
|
|
He threw fastballs at up to 99 (mph) and sliders are 92-93.
|
|
Freddie Freeman was fooled, swinging through one of deGrom's fastballs for a strikeout.
|
|
"When he's not feeling great, he's throwing a few more fastballs," Hinch said.
|
|
Back in 2008, big-league pitchers threw fastballs 20083 percent of the time.
|
|
He challenged with a lot of fastballs, we just didn't make the adjustments.
|
|
And while velocities are rising, pitchers are actually throwing fewer and fewer fastballs.
|
|
He threw more fastballs then, and now he throws more curveballs than ever.
|
|
Afterward the Braves sat in the clubhouse and talked about fastballs, not sliders.
|
|
Well before he could drive a car, Kopech threw fastballs like his idol.
|
|
Both Davis and Chapman hit fastballs that were left out over the plate.
|
|
He said later that three misplaced fastballs had done in Pineda on Wednesday.
|
|
But at the same time, the most lively fastballs are hard to command.
|
|
I threw too many fastballs and was up in the zone a little bit.
|
|
"He was throwing cutters and fastballs, so I decided to be aggressive," Gregorius said.
|
|
That's a lot of cash, even for someone who regularly throws 22017-mph fastballs.
|
|
Five of the strikeouts came on called third strikes — most of them on fastballs.
|
|
Scherzer threw 35 of 54 pitches for strikes, mixing in some three-fingered fastballs.
|
|
He threw all fastballs in the first inning, but the Mets were muted nonetheless.
|
|
When pitchers fall behind in the count, the percentage of fastballs they throw increases.
|
|
Murphy emphasizes damage over contact, with startling results — and fastballs do not bother him.
|
|
Few threw more fastballs, either, even though Buchter's averages just 2120 miles per hour.
|
|
Every bit of his energy is behind every one of those 100-plus fastballs.
|
|
Aroldis Chapman and Luis Severino each throw fastballs that exceed 100 miles per hour.
|
|
Perhaps it was a breaking ball, he said, because he rarely whiffed on fastballs.
|
|
Conserving his best fastballs for later in games was not Verlander's plan, at first.
|
|
"I see guys gearing up to hit fastballs and swing-and-missing," Romine said.
|
|
Sometimes these innovations are completely in bounds: shifting defenses, cut fastballs, openers, instant replay.
|
|
"We've got a bunch of guys that take a lot of fastballs," Bowa said.
|
|
I fell into a pattern, threw too many fastballs and he hit it out.
|
|
His approach lacks almost any nuance; he hunts fastballs and swings for the downs.
|
|
Hader slings fastballs and sliders at menacing angles and has absurdly dominated hitters this season.
|
|
On Sunday, Souza had some better gifts in the form of fastballs from Michael Pineda.
|
|
All four of the Brewers' run-scoring hits came on fastballs 2 to 3 m.p.h.
|
|
Rod Carew crouched so he would not be overpowered by fastballs up in the zone.
|
|
The Giants' latest nominee for closer could not land many fastballs inside the strike zone.
|
|
While some two-seam fastballs drop, Colon's moves most sharply away from left-handed batters.
|
|
He's homered off aces and relievers, fastballs and breaking balls, mistakes and well-placed pitches.
|
|
Severino has one of the best fastballs in baseball, and he delivered a 97-m.p.h.
|
|
He said today's pitchers, with their turbo fastballs, tried too hard to strike hitters out.
|
|
My mind's eye recalls Seaver throwing more or less nothing but fastballs, mano a mano.
|
|
And when you do that, obviously guys are swinging because they all look like fastballs.
|
|
Competitive major league pitchers throw fastballs in the range of 90-plus miles per hour.
|
|
Those fastballs are not the ones thrown hardest, but the ones that spin the most.
|
|
As of Tuesday, Edgin was throwing fastballs off a mound — but not with 100 percent effort.
|
|
In baseball, that reprimand usually comes in the form of fastballs thrown at hitters, by pitchers.
|
|
Urquidy is attacking the Nationals with a lot of 95-mile-per-hour fastballs and sliders.
|
|
Giolito credited catcher Kevan Smith with calling an effective blend of high fastballs and low changeups.
|
|
"Breaking ball, 27-23.25 and he had thrown me a couple of fastballs away," Longoria said.
|
|
He struck out two in the first inning, only throwing fastballs and consistently hitting 95 mph.
|
|
It looks like we're behind fastballs and not putting the ball in play with two strikes.
|
|
But the right-hander dominated them on Tuesday mainly with a mix of fastballs and sliders.
|
|
LHP Tyler Anderson (right oblique strain) threw 20 fastballs off the mound Saturday in Scottsdale, Ariz.
|
|
His velocity was normal in the first inning, when he fired 98- to 100-m.p.h. fastballs.
|
|
Pomeranz had always thrown fastballs and curveballs, but he could never find a consistent third pitch.
|
|
The 22019 election cycle saw candidates with Washington credentials hammered harder than Bryce Harper hits fastballs.
|
|
Standing on the mound was Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban God of Fastballs and the Cubs' closer.
|
|
If that doesn't happen, I don't think we're really talking about not throwing as many fastballs.
|
|
They never got off our fastballs, and we couldn't quite — they laid off tough breaking balls.
|
|
Hitters can capitalize on flat sliders and elevated fastballs, as the Astros did in Game 1.
|
|
Familia fired fastballs between 94 and 97 miles per hour, but his command was clearly rusty.
|
|
There are fastballs and curveballs, but no one beans a batter because of how he voted.
|
|
He pinpointed mid-90s fastballs around the strike zone and fired sliders that baffled the Braves.
|
|
Canha and Davis each hit belt-high fastballs from Taylor, who exited after walking Trevor Plouffe.
|
|
On Thursday, Montgomery struck out Longoria in the first inning on three pitches, all sinking fastballs.
|
|
The big lead led to Wright throwing more fastballs than usual so he wouldn't walk people.
|
|
A pitcher never knows when one of those fastballs is going to get away from him.
|
|
On Tuesday, he threw 20 pitches and strictly fastballs, but Thursday he also threw some breaking pitches.
|
|
Urshela fouled off seven straight fastballs before flying out to the warning track in right-center field.
|
|
After two quick outs, Harvey coughed up the run on fastballs that flew right over the plate.
|
|
Noah Syndergaard made baseball's best lineup look clueless by heaving a bunch of beautiful triple-digit fastballs.
|
|
LHP Tyler Matzek (anxiety) threw 30 fastballs with good command in a bullpen session in Scottsdale Ariz.
|
|
Relying mostly on fastballs with an occasional curveball and slider, Kelly struck out seven and walked three.
|
|
And we don't mean the fastballs thrown by Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and Astros starter Dallas Keuchel.
|
|
That's sure the case with Hailey Dawson, a 22017-year-old with a penchant for tossing fastballs.
|
|
You've got a lot of guys with good fastballs now that don't have as good secondary stuff.
|
|
Just under 50 percent of his pitches are fastballs, even though he throws it harder than ever.
|
|
He does not scramble like Wilson or throw fastballs into tight coverage like Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers.
|
|
With the data-savvy Astros, he has thrown more breaking balls (especially his slider) and elevated fastballs.
|
|
Then he leaned on that serve: A booming ace; a series of slices wide and forceful fastballs.
|
|
He left some fastballs up out over the plate and they put some good swings on them.
|
|
Pitchers have tried to counter by baiting them with high fastballs that stay above their bat path.
|
|
Livan Hernandez, Mike Mussina and Bartolo Colon all used to reach the mid nineties with their fastballs.
|
|
But Fowler used two Cole fastballs as the catapult to break out of an 23-for-57 skid.
|
|
He threw 110 pitches, 70 for strikes, and averaged 98.1 miles per hour on 61 four-seam fastballs.
|
|
Cole threw 94 pitches, 65 for strikes, and averaged 97.5 miles per hour on 123 four-seam fastballs.
|
|
He throws a pair of two-seam fastballs, each breaking a different way, a changeup, and a curveball.
|
|
It appears that Zimmerman has not been able to get around on good fastballs during a down stretch.
|
|
Turn the page from this day and keep working and throw the ball where I want, especially fastballs.
|
|
Chatwood had allowed nine homers, all on fastballs, in 36 2/3 innings in his previous six starts.
|
|
He gave up a career-high three home runs, all on fastballs, including two to DH David Ortiz.
|
|
Unlike Miller and Betances, who can throw fastballs in the upper 90s, Chapman does not slowly build up.
|
|
But the two-time All-Star threw two fastballs on the outside corner that Bautista took for strikes.
|
|
He fired 100-mile-per-hour fastballs, and he struck out Adonis Garcia on a 95-m.p.h. slider.
|
|
I was like, 'Wait, I thought you told me you were gonna throw nothing but fastballs — what happened?
|
|
But Chapman was throwing only fastballs over 99 miles per hour, and Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez noticed.
|
|
Although Buehler was firing fastballs of 98 miles per hour, the Brewers took advantage of his few mistakes.
|
|
Chris Taylor then drew a walk, watching a couple of fastballs off the inner edge of the plate.
|
|
He baited the Reds with fastballs his first time through the order, then unleashed his changeups and sliders.
|
|
Ryoma steps onto the mound and begins practicing his fastballs, which can easily reach 88 miles per hour.
|
|
Straily said many pitchers try too hard against Stanton, getting more speed on their fastballs but sacrificing command.
|
|
So did the thrill of witnessing the same player flinging fastballs past hitters and launching them over fences.
|
|
"To me, all he did was throw fastballs — strike one, strike two, strike three," Cleveland's Francisco Lindor said.
|
|
He took a ball and then fouled off the next two pitches, both fastballs clocked at 94 m.p.h.
|
|
Zimmermann lost his no-hit bid and the lead when the Yankees hammered three fastballs in the sixth.
|
|
Throwing breaking balls along with fastballs, Jackson was a mainstay for the Mets through their first four seasons.
|
|
Throwing breaking balls along with fastballs, Jackson was a mainstay for the Mets through their first four seasons.
|
|
But some fastballs defy gravity a little longer than others, so they seem to rise to the hitter.
|
|
He threw most of his fastballs in the 89-90 mph range, although Scioscia said he touched 93 mph.
|
|
"He really commanded the count, commanded his pitch count, really good fastballs," Royals manager Ned Yost said of Severino.
|
|
"I started with three fastballs away, so I didn't think he was going to hit that cutter," Osuna said.
|
|
Later in the game, his attack shifts, and two high fastballs register two more Ks for the Astros legend.
|
|
Also, when pitchers miss with their fastballs, they tend to miss arm-side—that is, closer to the batter.
|
|
"They were ready to hit fastballs, and they didn't miss too many of them," said Romine, the Yankees' catcher.
|
|
All of Friday's homers came off fastballs, and Darvish said later that his pitch selection could have been better.
|
|
In the tenth, Despaigne faced off against the same pitcher, who is known for throwing mostly straight hard fastballs.
|
|
That's 5 strikeouts in 10 batters for Kershaw: two on sliders, two on fastballs, and one on a curveball.
|
|
His velocity was not an issue against the Padres; he was firing 94-mile-per-hour fastballs with ease.
|
|
Harvey pumped 95-mile-per-hour fastballs, yet the better command and the breaking balls were what stood out.
|
|
Quintana worked with confidence and efficiency, challenging the United States hitters by spotting his fastballs and changeups with precision.
|
|
"He beat me with two good fastballs inside that I kind of took some bad swings on," Rua said.
|
|
A decade ago, Major League pitchers threw a grand total of just 196 triple-digit fastballs in a single season.
|
|
Fulmer throws one of the ten or so hardest fastballs in the league, a 96-mile-per-hour four-seamer.
|
|
Doing my best to throw my best fastballs and not let him do what he did in the first inning.
|
|
Tanner Rainey relieved him and threw a 1-2-3 innings with fastballs as hard as 100 miles per hour.
|
|
Arrieta homered on the eighth pitch of his at-bat against Arizona right-hander Shelby Miller (0-1), all fastballs.
|
|
LHP Chasen Shreve (left shoulder AC joint sprain) threw 212 fastballs during a bullpen session Tuesday and felt no pain.
|
|
After entering in the 11th inning, Tonkin blew away Mike Trout and Albert Pujols on fastballs in the high-23.95s.
|
|
He relied largely on a two-pitch mix, throwing 35 sliders and 33 four-seam fastballs among his 94 pitches.
|
|
LHP Tyler Anderson (right oblique strain) threw 20153 fastballs off the mound Saturday at the Rockies' complex in Scottsdale, Ariz.
|
|
The researchers concluded that just throwing fastballs — irrespective of velocity — significantly increases the risk for injury and Tommy John surgery.
|
|
The only three runs he allowed in six innings came on homers — both off fastballs rather than his normal knuckleball.
|
|
He is a master of the changeup, but on Thursday, catcher Jonathan Lucroy said, the plan called for more fastballs.
|
|
Since 2008, there's been a 5.8 percent decline in the rate at which pitchers throw fastballs behind in the count.
|
|
They're being replaced, as a percentage of all pitches thrown, by other pitches—in fact, by definition, by non-fastballs.
|
|
He struggled early this season when he tried to throw too many high fastballs, as so many others do today.
|
|
Barria pumped pitch after pitch after pitch — fastballs, sliders and changeups — into the strike zone, and Belt spoiled every one.
|
|
I hit a little in the big leagues, when pitchers figured there'd be nothing to lose by throwing me fastballs.
|
|
The Indians forced Chapman to throw 26 pitches in that inning — 23 of which were fastballs that were 100 m.p.h.
|
|
McCullers tossed 30 pitches, all fastballs and changeups, and will be re-evaluated Friday to determine his next course of action.
|
|
McCullers tossed 30 pitches, all fastballs and changeups, and will be reevaluated on Friday to determine his next course of action.
|
|
Both homers were hit off Drew Steckenrider (0-23), who was taken deep both times on fastballs to the opposite field.
|
|
They all trudge out to the mound with set faces, and they all throw hard fastballs and bendy little breaking balls.
|
|
RHP Jordan Zimmermann threw 20 fastballs off the mound on Tuesday as he continues his recovery from a lower back strain.
|
|
He mixed fastballs and off speed offerings, all from the same release point, each pitch faster and crisper than his peers'.
|
|
LHP Tyler Matzek (anxiety) threw 30 fastballs with good command in a bullpen session at the Rockies' complex in Scottsdale Ariz.
|
|
LHP Tyler Anderson (right oblique strain) threw 73 fastballs off the mound on Saturday at the Rockies' complex in Scottsdale, Ariz.
|
|
A lack of command for pitchers may account for the strong correlation between percent of fastballs thrown and Tommy John surgery.
|
|
Even though he felt tired on a humid Sunday, his deceptive fastballs and off-speed pitches kept the Braves off-balance.
|
|
Andriese was showing him only fastballs, Ortiz noticed, so he guessed that he would try something new with his first pitch.
|
|
Save for the very occasional off-speed pitch, his fastballs and sinkers arrived in 98- to 100-miles-per-hour packages.
|
|
But Gonzalez, who knew that Chapman was going to pump only fastballs, slapped one into center field to tie the game.
|
|
Save for the very occasional off-speed pitch, his fastballs and sinkers arrived in 203- to 100-miles-per-hour packages.
|
|
Denard Span, the leg-churning center fielder, continued to take fastballs at shoelace level and lace those balls into the outfield.
|
|
In the end, Jeurys Familia threw his darting rabid fastballs and sliders, and the Mets had stumbled improbably into the playoffs.
|
|
Just 295 percent of all pitches have been fastballs this season, the lowest figure in the 23.55 seasons tracked by FanGraphs.
|
|
He threw 102 pitches, 74 for strikes, and showcased his repertoire with 44 four-seam fastballs, 34 sliders and 20 curveballs.
|
|
There's been an emphasis on the whole launch angle thing and pitchers combating that with throwing fastballs up in the zone.
|
|
Hunter Dozier and Jorge Soler sent fastballs over the heart of the strike zone over the fences in the fifth inning.
|
|
In mid-July, a few days after Patterson's impressive fastballs at the Rockies game were recorded, he finally got the call.
|
|
If he had hit fastballs as well as he does golf balls, Koepka probably would have pursued a major-league career.
|
|
Koepka won last year's tournament in Wisconsin by attacking the Erin Hills course like a pitcher throwing high and hard fastballs.
|
|
He did so on Sunday, throwing 13 fastballs, seven sliders and one changeup, according to the pitch-tracking website Brooks Baseball.
|
|
Both have been profiled as right-handed starters with strikeout capabilities thanks to fastballs that reach speeds in the high 90s.
|
|
Feldman led all AL pitchers in cutter usage in 2015 as 39.7 percent of his pitches were cut fastballs; opponents batted .
|
|
Yet at 22, Verlander is still pumping fastballs in the mid-232s and relishing a late-career resurgence with the Astros.
|
|
Yet at 22, Verlander is still pumping fastballs in the mid-232s and relishing a late-career resurgence with the Astros.
|
|
It is like Aroldis Chapman throwing a bunch of 104 mph fastballs and then unleashing a perfect changeup with two strikes.
|
|
Want to know which hitters do the best against low fastballs over 234 miles per hour from left-handed relief pitchers?
|
|
Wes is bringing four-seam fastballs, elevated pitches, sequencing pitches, and he knows the delivery very well because he's studied it.
|
|
Including October, Keuchel was 210-262 with a 215.1 E.R.A. last season, despite one of the slowest average fastballs in the game.
|
|
"He'd thrown me two fastballs, so I knew he was going to try to get (the slider) in there sometime," Moreland said.
|
|
Both homers were hit off reliever Drew Steckenrider (0-2), who was taken deep both times on fastballs to the opposite field.
|
|
Richards threw fastballs, curveballs and sliders, getting three hitters to hit routine grounders, while one hitter hit a single to left field.
|
|
"I think I (was) getting predictable, throwing fastballs in fastball counts, and that's what I've been giving up homers on," Chatwood said.
|
|
"From the right side, I have to just get in the box and look for fastballs and try to adjust," Walker explained.
|
|
He threw plenty of fastballs up in the strike zone, but the Braves could not take advantage until later in the game.
|
|
Don't miss him playing Galaga at the arcade and hitting fastballs in the batting cage in the accompanying video from Gabe Ramirez.
|
|
While Marco Estrada tamed the Rangers into the ninth, tricking them with changeups that looked like fastballs, Hamels could not match him.
|
|
After that, Pineda harnessed his power stuff, inducing seven strikeouts with swing-and-miss fastballs and sliders across the next five innings.
|
|
So it is, and it is worth emphasizing that many fastballs simply overpower hitters, even without excessive movement or a deceptive delivery.
|
|
In spring training in March, the Mets had five golden-armed young pitchers whose fastballs edged into the mid- to high 90s.
|
|
Pitchers have responded with more of a north/south strategy, with fastballs riding above the trendy swing path, and curveballs buckling below.
|
|
His first nine strikeouts were on changeups and fastballs, and deGrom used his curveball to fan Scooter Gennett to end the sixth.
|
|
And for some reason, this group, the last two or three years, has had a tendency to take a lot of fastballs.
|
|
He looked like his fastball — I don't even know what the gun said — but he was crisp, dotting his fastballs, good breaking ball.
|
|
George H.W. Bush -- who played college ball at Yale and was a lifelong fan -- zipped in crisp fastballs throughout his term in office.
|
|
To be one of the people standing on the receiving end of 90 miles per hour fastballs is to be in constant danger.
|
|
"I felt like I was throwing some good fastballs early in the game and had them backed off a little bit," Hughes said.
|
|
He was pulled after throwing a pair of low-90s fastballs — more than five mph slower than normal — to Nationals LF Jayson Werth.
|
|
After the first inning Sunday, the pitching coach Dan Warthen stressed the need for Matz to mix in those pitches with his fastballs.
|
|
Happ throws fastballs 70.8 percent of the time, and that was before Thursday, when he used it for 78 of those 96 pitches.
|
|
He belted several batting-practice fastballs high off the Dedeaux Field scoreboard and into the thicket of trees beyond the right-field wall.
|
|
He has one of baseball's best two-seam swing-back fastballs, a perfect pitch for a Dodgers lineup filled with left-handed batters.
|
|
He pumped 97-mile-per-hour fastballs paired with a wicked changeup to neutralize a Dodgers lineup strategically stuffed with left-handed batters.
|
|
Ohtani, with his 227.4 mile-per-hour fastballs and baffling splitters and sliders, would be a devastating weapon to introduce in that setting.
|
|
Masahiro Tanaka owns one of baseball's most devastating split-fingered fastballs, and Sonny Gray's array of pitches dip and dart in different directions.
|
|
"He used to be like a chicken wing against left-handers with fastballs," said Meulens, pointing his left elbow up in the air.
|
|
The only spirit the Phillies showed came in the ninth when two fastballs by Mets reliever Jacob Rhame sailed over Rhys Hoskins's head.
|
|
Semien, a right-handed hitter like Judge, said he struggled at times with high fastballs, which require a strong top hand to handle.
|
|
They have fanned 53 times in the first five games on a wide array of pitches, including low breaking balls and high fastballs.
|
|
Collins's inclination is to defend his players, but his patience is not infinite with pitchers who continually throw fastballs straight across the plate.
|
|
When Tillman next faced Judge, in the second inning, he avoided tossing any fastballs near the plate, issuing a walk on four pitches.
|
|
Spenser Alpern New York City To the Sports Editor: Re "Fastballs Can Lead to Tommy John Surgery, Study Finds," May 20: Researchers should next look into why the pitchers who had Tommy John surgery threw more fastballs than the pitchers who did not, so that preventive measures can be taken to reduce the frequency of the operation and increase arm health.
|
|
It's got to be the hardest thing in baseball, hitting a 92-94 slider when you've got to hunt 98 mile per hour fastballs.
|
|
"When he's throwing 99 mile per hour fastballs, 94 sliders and 90 changeups, you're going to swing and miss," Royals manager Ned Yost said.
|
|
Both players were behind in the count when they connected on fastballs from Suarez, Dahl on an 234-219 pitch and Murphy 215-23.
|
|
I feel like I'm getting better pitches to see and a lot more fastballs due to the fact of the guys hitting behind me.
|
|
He said pitchers do not work enough innings in the minors to learn how to navigate through trouble with anything but maximum-effort fastballs.
|
|
Finding and repeating the right arm angle — not too high, not too low — helped Happ believe he could rely heavily on fastballs and win.
|
|
When Pirates pitcher Steven Brault took the field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, it had nothing to do with fastballs or curveballs.
|
|
Which brings us right back to the question of why: Why would pitchers, who are throwing faster than ever, move away from their fastballs?
|
|
Eovaldi, who relies on high fastballs — something that teams try to beat the Yankees with — helps balance out a lefty-heavy Red Sox rotation.
|
|
While Judge went hitless in four at-bats, his aggressive approach — swinging early and often at fastballs — left him with something to build on.
|
|
Chapman, who threw only fastballs in his 23 pitches in Friday's loss, received encouragement from catcher Austin Romine to trust his slider and changeup.
|
|
That means the pitch does not drop at the same rate as most fastballs, making it appear to hop, or rise, to the hitter.
|
|
Throwing hard at a young age gets pitchers drafted, but doctors routinely cite the danger of tender arms throwing too many high-octane fastballs.
|
|
The Indians were attracted by Goody's minor league numbers (13.2 strikeouts per nine innings) and his ability to throw fastballs and sliders past hitters.
|
|
Last July 211, in a winning deal for both teams, the Yankees sent Chapman, the left-handed closer who throws fastballs at 229 m.p.h.
|
|
It is part of an evolution in pitching, he said; fastballs once thought to simply be "sneaky" are now classified, objectively, as valuable weapons.
|
|
Tanaka (6-2) struck out Ohtani on split-fingered fastballs for the final out of the first and for the second out of the sixth.
|
|
Gray said he will throw a 25-pitch bullpen session with more fastballs Friday instead of his typical 40-pitch, more-varied bullpen between starts.
|
|
But after getting ahead in the count 22-21 against Denard Span, Rondon fired three successive fastballs out of the zone to load the bases.
|
|
Eovaldi, who rears back and scowls before pushing forward to unfurl his fastballs, was even more impressive in neutralizing a more powerful Blue Jays lineup.
|
|
His large frame and quick arm generate the power behind his high-octane fastballs, which have been clocked as high as 23 miles per hour.
|
|
Miller trains their eyes to look for fastballs low in the zone, the pitching coach Mickey Callaway said, then slips the slider in even lower.
|
|
"We never tucked our tails and wanted to just go home, or swing at bad pitches or just throw fastballs down the middle," Bridwell said.
|
|
He also showed the classic symptoms of a pitcher with a lot of rest who is really amped up, especially with some extra high fastballs.
|
|
But he now uses his fastball much less, cognizant of hitters' tendencies to pounce on his early-count fastballs and drive them for home runs.
|
|
Ottavino's wicked slider seemed to be a perfect counter for Astros outfielder George Springer, who is one of the best in baseball at slugging fastballs.
|
|
Reyes, a switch-hitter, said he had noticed he had been stuck in between pitches — too late on fastballs and too early on breaking balls.
|
|
Otani's ability to hit long home runs and throw fastballs more than 1553 miles an hour has made him the best-known player in Japan.
|
|
As a hitter, something I noticed over time en route to the majors was the increase in fastballs with movement, whether on purpose or not.
|
|
But I do know this: If you combine the demonstrated change in opportunity (a 4.4 percent decline in pitches thrown behind in the count) with the demonstrated change in behavior (a 5.8 percent decline in the rate at which pitchers throw fastballs in those situations) since 2008, you get something that looks rather a lot like the overall 5.4 percent decline in fastballs thrown.
|
|
"Later in the game, we were relying on two-seam fastballs to get ahead and let them swing the bat and get themselves out," Junis said.
|
|
Catastrophe is about falling in love with a stranger under even stranger circumstances, and the challenge of staying in love as life throws fastballs your way.
|
|
In fact, as a percentage of total pitches seen, Heyward has faced more fastballs in 2016 (65 percent) than in any other season of his career.
|
|
Fulmer was flipping up 26 mph fastballs late into his stint but it was the first major use of a fledgling changeup that caught everybody's notice.
|
|
The new smart bat, available at a later date, has a much more discreet sensor right in the knob that isn't noticeable when swinging at fastballs.
|
|
Bailey followed up seven scoreless innings against the Cleveland Indians by keeping the Yankees off balance with a mix of four-seam fastballs, splitters and sliders.
|
|
"Young is a guy that's going to throw fastballs up in the strike zone and try to get you to chase with the slider," Beltran said.
|
|
Baseball season is officially underway so swing through these pitchin' pics to see celebs channeling their inner Clayton Kershaw and dishin' out some four-seam fastballs.
|
|
Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman struck out Jose Altuve on three 100-plus mph fastballs with the tying run on second base to earn his seventh save.
|
|
The Astros helped Morton become the best version of himself through data that showed he should throw more curves and four-seam fastballs, and fewer sinkers.
|
|
But Gardner was convinced that Judge's presence meant he would keep seeing fastballs, and he knew that if he survived long enough, he could hit one.
|
|
But he's thrown a lot of fastballs at a very high velocity, so at some point, you're going to see a little bit of a dip.
|
|
He has twice led the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio, and still threw more than 60 percent fastballs when he joined the Yankees in 2009.
|
|
Ray throws fewer fastballs, changeups and sliders this season, but nearly a quarter of his pitches have been curveballs, compared to just 603 percent in 2016.
|
|
Ruiz got three outs while using all fastballs, averaging 256 miles per hour, allowing two walks, two hits and one run — a solo homer by Rosario.
|
|
Still, despite his dominance, deGrom's velocity on Friday sat at about 92 miles per hour, a few ticks slower than the normal speed of his fastballs.
|
|
On the mound, deGrom seemed normal, hitting 94 miles per hour on fastballs to Braves catcher Tyler Flowers, who grounded out to end the fourth inning.
|
|
Yet Harvey, firing 22016-mile-per-hour fastballs, threw deep into the game thanks to an aggressive approach, a full arsenal of pitches and strong command.
|
|
Games are won by batters who can send pitches over the outfield walls and by powerful starters who can employ devastating fastballs to overwhelm opposing hitters.
|
|
Cole, whose deal is still pending a physical, could instantly improve the Yankees' starting rotation, with a right arm capable of 100-mile per hour fastballs.
|
|
The game's most tense moment also involved Balentien, who just missed driving 98- and 99-mile-per-hour fastballs from Edwin Diaz, the Seattle Mariners closer.
|
|
So when Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom looked sharp in their exhibition debuts, with sizzling fastballs and two scoreless outings apiece, Mets fans could savor it.
|
|
The couple recently announced they're expecting their second child; here's hoping Biggs and his "new wing" will be ready for holding newborns and throwing fastballs very soon.
|
|
"I think they're looking for fastballs early, and then some breaking balls didn't work his way at all," manager Clint Hurdle said of the 214-year-old.
|
|
LHP James Paxton, who has been on the disabled list since May 5 with a left forearm strain, threw a bullpen session Thursday afternoon of 25 fastballs.
|
|
He pitched well out of the bullpen in two stints in the majors while flashing low 90-mile-per-hour fastballs, solid command and an exceptional curveball.
|
|
Then he began to use his breaking pitches more, especially to Nick Swisher, who saw only two fastballs while drawing a seven-pitch walk in the second.
|
|
The Brewers' relief corps switched tacks, testing Bryant with inside fastballs; he walloped these, too, for a center-field solo shot and a game-capping RBI single.
|
|
Luis Severino overwhelmed the A's with fastballs and carved them with sliders, sprinting to the fifth inning to start the bullpen relay that defines the modern postseason.
|
|
He threw a first-pitch strike to Andrew McCutchen but then seemed to be too amped up on his fastballs, walking the leadoff batter on five pitches.
|
|
We recalled our preadolescent battery at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Manhattan's Upper West Side, my imaginary Tom Seaver tossing fastballs to his imaginary Jerry Grote.
|
|
He finally discovered it with the Houston Astros, when he learned to attack hitters with curveballs and high fastballs instead of trying to induce contact with sinkers.
|
|
Teams covet hard throwers and select from that ever-expanding pool, flooding their farm system with heat — not just in the bullpen, and not just with fastballs.
|
|
Unlike their last meeting, at Fenway Park a month ago, there were no spikes-up slides, no retributive fastballs in the back and no bench-clearing brawls.
|
|
He has seen more high fastballs in the second half and chased more pitches out of the strike zone, but has reason to believe he can adjust.
|
|
Pitchers feared Thames and rarely challenged him with fastballs, but he displayed discipline at the plate, laying off junk and waiting for breaking balls he could mash.
|
|
Sabathia grinds out win as Yankees top Red Sox NEW YORK — The days of blowing fastballs past batters are a thing of the past for CC Sabathia.
|
|
They are all 27 or younger, can all pitch in the mid-to-high-90s with their fastballs, and suffer no fools with their exemplary secondary stuff.
|
|
He threw 37 sinkers and 28 sliders while tossing 17 four-seam fastballs and changeups each, weaving around baserunners in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
|
|
He rolled over twice on fastballs, which is something you generally see professional hitters do only on off-speed stuff, and he showed below-average running speed.
|
|
But one factor stood out: pitchers who had surgery threw fastballs 46.8 percent of the time, compared to 39.7 percent among those who had not had an operation.
|
|
Combined, those three have 30 home runs and 90 R.B.I. Facing Eovaldi's upper-90s fastballs, the top of the order had the potential to create a hazardous recipe.
|
|
After his Friday bullpen session in which he threw fastballs, changeups and curveballs, Wheeler said that his arm felt good — better than it did a few weeks ago.
|
|
"When I have a strong, powerful hitter up, I use those because they have a fast bat and they're always looking for fastballs to hit hard," Colon said.
|
|
It's a good thing, too, because he's seeing a career-low rate of fastballs (49.7 percent) and a career-low rate of pitches in the zone (45.9 percent).
|
|
He adorned billboards and had a man-crush love letter written to him in the script of a Philadelphia-set sitcom, all while silently assassinating his opponents' fastballs.
|
|
Based on the way he pitched on Sunday — 97-miles-per-hour fastballs and only one hit allowed — he probably could have thrown much more than three innings.
|
|
"You can't just game plan against J.V. as if he's going to throw high fastballs and late-in-the-count breaking balls; he's unpredictable," Hinch said of Verlander.
|
|
But he was averaging 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings, and threw 19 fastballs at 100 miles per hour or higher while collecting four outs in the Futures Game.
|
|
Despite having the highest average velocity in the league, Yankee hurlers throw the fewest fastballs of any staff — a paradoxical distinction in a season that's been full of surprises.
|
|
As a high school sophomore, Fernández threw 94-mph fastballs, as fast as some pros, and he led Braulio Alonso High School to two state championships, Le Batard reported.
|
|
For five innings, he baffled hitters with fastballs and curves, surrendering one run and striking out eight on his way to being named National League Rookie of the Year.
|
|
All three of his doubles Wednesday went off the right field wall at PNC Park, and two were on 99 and 98 mph fastballs from Mets starter Noah Syndergaard.
|
|
On the other hand, Ohtani as a hitter isn't afraid to let loose against first-pitch fastballs, and he's shown himself to handle high-end velocity with no problem.
|
|
MLB hitters now have something interesting to look at while Mike Clevinger is pumping fastballs their way -- a sick tat of Jimi Hendrix's face on the stud pitcher's finger!
|
|
Right-hander Mauricio Cabrera struck out three on 100, 102 and 101 mph fastballs in the eighth before Jim Johnson picked up his 43th save with a scoreless ninth.
|
|
Velocity can get relievers to the majors, and as long as they make only brief appearances, they can keep their best fastballs without needing to develop many other pitches.
|
|
With a more complete arsenal — and far fewer fastballs — he has taken advantage of the chance he sought this spring, after spending most of last season in Oakland's bullpen.
|
|
Facing a team with a high strikeout rate, deGrom challenged the Cubs regularly with fastballs high in the zone, winning the majority of the battles and totaling seven strikeouts.
|
|
In the fourth inning, he battled Ray, fouling off 94- and 96-mile-per-hour fastballs to draw a seven-pitch walk, the first of his 19-year career.
|
|
This year, as it's been for the last decade, that mix is evolving away from fastballs, and toward pitches that, like the arms that throw them, tend to break.
|
|
Even though Kelly possesses one of the best fastballs in the game, Judge said he often used the pitch — delivered at the letters — to set up a slider away.
|
|
He averaged 97.9 miles per hour on 60 four-seam fastballs, struck out every batter at least once, and fanned Ji-Man Choi and Brandon Lowe three times each.
|
|
On the mound he fell into his rocking chair motion, firing 320-mile-an-hour four-seam fastballs, and sliders that hissed as the ball hit the catcher's glove.
|
|
"He was really down, like he had a lot of those really low bounced fastballs and then the changeup and breaking ball were elevated," said Reds manager Bryan Price.
|
|
Yet a Fangraphs study this month showed that the Rays threw more than 60 percent of their four-seam fastballs up in the zone, easily the most in baseball.
|
|
As a sinkerballer, he still lives down in the zone, an exception on a staff whose fastballs had the fifth-best average spin rate in the majors last season.
|
|
In the bottom of the third, Yankees starter Domingo German buzzed the Tigers' two best hitters — Nick Castellanos and Miguel Cabrera — with fastballs, but there were no other incidents.
|
|
He can't catch up to 90 mph, which is well below the major league average for a fastball, and was cutting through fastballs in the zone on Wednesday night.
|
|
"Throws targeted for the inside and outside corners have been replaced by fastballs that rocket up above the zone or breaking balls that dive below it," notes NYT's Joe Lemire.
|
|
He was aggressive and threw a lot of fastballs (92 to 94 miles per hour) and sliders, two pitches that are no longer what they once were before the injuries.
|
|
Orioles reliever Hunter Harvey came on in the eighth for his third major league appearance and was impressive again in a scoreless inning, often throwing fastballs in the high 90s.
|
|
Two-seam fastballs have been around Major League Baseball for decades, though the Tom Selleck movie Mr. Baseball enhanced the pitch's mythos when it came to U.S.-Japan baseball culture.
|
|
The Angels' DH relies on his pitch recognition and preternatural reflexes to wait, driving fastballs the opposite way while using the big part of the field to corral breaking balls.
|
|
By the 2016s, many fans argued that the spectacle of hapless pitchers feebly trying to fend off blazing fastballs was turning their at-bats into a mockery of the game.
|
|
As a minor leaguer in San Diego's system in June 2014, he threw a curveball, felt his arm tingle and then threw two fastballs with a dramatic dip in velocity.
|
|
Filled with irreverent jokes fired like fastballs, the 220 episodes of this Fox comedy are a breeze to binge and are smartly satisfying, even as they leave a bitter aftertaste.
|
|
"A year ago he was yanking some fastballs to his glove side or missing up to the arm side," said Boston Manager John Farrell, a former pitcher and pitching coach.
|
|
Hill followed by retiring 13 of the next 14 batters, baffling the Astros with his ability to both spot his curveball for strikes and induce swings and misses on elevated fastballs.
|
|
The very act of hitting, especially when fastballs are coming toward the plate at more than 90 mph, is a trust fall in which the pitcher is always catching the hitter.
|
|
Altuve and Bregman, who slugged their eighth and third home runs, respectively, went deep on successive fastballs and, combined with Springer, produced an average exit velocity of 108.7 miles per hour.
|
|
Nicasio, the former Colorado starter who mostly relieved for the Dodgers last season, fanned seven in five innings, blowing 3653 mile-an-hour fastballs past the middle of the Mets' lineup.
|
|
The Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs on Monday, and to be sure, they will miss the surge of excitement that rippled through their ballpark when Chapman threw fastballs.
|
|
Bumgarner started this game by inducing five of the first six batters to pop out, tempting the Mets with high fastballs too appetizing to take, but not good enough to drive.
|
|
Back in 25.4, when he was just a young rookie and not yet the Greatest Pitcher Alive, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw threw fastballs around 70 percent of the time.
|
|
Hell, I'm barely in a position to say that the increase in strikeouts is tied to this observed decrease in fastballs (although I think there's fairly convincing evidence for that position).
|
|
"I could have a different order of pitches, I could try fastballs first, breaking balls first, get ahead in the count, get behind in the count — it didn't matter," Mussina said.
|
|
They made him pay for a couple of first-pitch fastballs that leaked back to the inner part of the plate to (2B Ian) Kinsler and (LF Andrew) Romine early on.
|
|
Syndergaard pitched seven sturdy innings, surrendering only one earned run and striking out nine with his surreal arsenal of pitches, including 98-mile-per-hour sinking fastballs that induced ground balls.
|
|
Throwing fastballs in the 97- to 24-mile-per-hour range, deGrom (212-213) struck out eight batters and walked one while allowing just one run and three hits, all singles.
|
|
The Astros batters took huge swings over biting changeups, watched helplessly as fastballs dotted the corner; Scherzer, with his violent throwing motion, screamed and fistpumped as the outs continued to pile up.
|
|
Fernandez retired the first 17 batters he faced while striking out six, two on fastballs in the first inning and two on curveballs against the top of the order in the fourth.
|
|
Syndergaard's out-pitch of choice on this day was his slider, a pitch that travels faster than many pitchers' fastballs, in the low 90s, and has a bite that can confound hitters.
|
|
Throwing fastballs consistently at 94 and 95 miles per hour, Matz walked the first batter of the game, Travis Jankowski, but struck out Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte to establish his dominance.
|
|
He left after 4 2/3 innings Friday, when his final two pitches — a pair of low 90 mph fastballs to Jayson Werth — spooked Werth as well as Mets manager Terry Collins.
|
|
Fastballs, which are relatively easy to control, are the kind of pitch you tend to throw more often when you're behind in the count, in order to get a quick strike over.
|
|
But the 36-year-old Vargas (1-3) settled down and kept the Dodgers off-balance the rest of the way with a mix of mid-80s fastballs and off-speed stuff.
|
|
The right-hander came out blazing, and the Athletics' hitters had trouble catching up to his 98 mile-per-hour fastballs as he set the side down in order with two strikeouts.
|
|
Cole is throwing more curveballs and high fastballs than he ever did with Pittsburgh, generating by far the fewest ground balls of his career but getting more strikeouts and weak fly balls.
|
|
With a Gary Sheffield-like bat waggle, he took a pair of wild hacks at fastballs from Yacksel Rios with runners at second and third, striking out but leaving his teammates laughing.
|
|
He's won his last 10 starts, thanks to a deadly combination of high-90s fastballs and a curveball so sharp it looks as if it has been caught in a wind shear.
|
|
He's won his last 10 starts, thanks to a deadly combination of high-90s fastballs and a curveball so sharp it looks as if it has been caught in a wind shear.
|
|
Mr. Bunning threw fastballs, curveballs and sliders out of a 20103-foot-3-inch frame, seeking to intimidate batters with a gruffness that would be a hallmark of his time in Congress.
|
|
His strikeout total on Friday night was particularly encouraging, as was the diversity in Tanaka's third-strike pitches — twirling sliders, mid-90s fastballs, curves and sinkers that muted the Rangers' strong lineup.
|
|
That brought up Josh Rutledge, who, after fouling off a pair of 22012-226 fastballs, hit a slider high and far down the left-field line, bringing the crowd to its feet.
|
|
David was only slated to throw an inning, so he was throwing 100 mph fastballs, half of which I could see from centerfield weren't straight, some moving several inches right to left.
|
|
Hicks and Goodrum, whose home run was his ninth, pounced on sliders while Candelario and Adduci, who homered for the first time this season, belted fastballs out to right-center and left-center.
|
|
That's why other teams came calling before MLB's trade deadline this summer — Jose Fernandez was a guy everybody else wanted on their side, rather than someone throwing fiery fastballs past their own batters.
|
|
In an early-season matchup, Verlander struck out Ohtani three times, pounding the zone with fastballs until getting the strikeout with a well-placed curve down-and-in in the first plate appearance.
|
|
He allowed a two-run triple to Cameron Rupp in the first inning but retired 10 straight hitters between the second and fifth, while pounding the bottom of the strike zone with fastballs.
|
|
The average speed of their pitches did not vary either; in both groups the average velocity was about 91 miles per hour for fastballs, 78 for curves and 84 for sliders and changeups.
|
|
He rediscovered his arsenal, particularly fastballs in the mid to high 03s, striking out 12 while allowing just two hits over eight innings — the longest outing by a Yankees starting pitcher this season.
|
|
For six and two-thirds innings, Yankees starter Michael Pineda was perfect, displaying the dazzling repertory of fastballs and sliders that have occasionally electrified Yankee Stadium since he arrived via trade in 2012.
|
|
If his fastballs entertain fans for a while, and then he helps Harper, Torres and the gang win a title, he can seek even more riches and call it a job well done.
|
|
He has dealt with no aches or pains in retirement, he said, and even now, he throws batting practice three or four times a week at the high school — fastballs, curveballs, sliders, splitters.
|
|
But the 36-year-old Vargas (1-3) settled down and kept the Dodgers off-balance for the rest of his seven innings, with a mix of mid-80s fastballs and off-speed stuff.
|
|
The hits ranged from seared almost-gappers to hard grounders placed right between the first and second basemen; the swings that produced them were either low wristy sweeps or hurried twitches at inside fastballs.
|
|
This was the pitcher the Mets yearned to see, seven innings of angry fastballs and wicked off-speed stuff in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Citi Field on Monday.
|
|
"I think I'll be sad that there's always works left undone," he says, while leaning against his car outside the batting cages where he and his friends used to hit fastballs in the Valley.
|
|
Here comes a backhand, then another and another, but they are followed by a long series of bolo punch forehands — five, then 12 — which he sends skidding through the air like Max Scherzer fastballs.
|
|
"The last time we faced him, some of the fastballs were just sprayed — weren't really close to the zone — and a lot of the sliders that he threw weren't really close, either," Longoria said.
|
|
Colon, 43, was as effective with his arsenal of fastballs nipping the corners, leaving two of the game's best hitters, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, standing in the batter's box flummoxed after called third strikes.
|
|
With a dizzying array of dancing fastballs and darting curveballs, Kluber struck out eight of the first 11 batters he faced, becoming the first pitcher in Series history to fan that many in three innings.
|
|
So far this season, big-league pitchers as a group are throwing fewer fastballs, as a percentage of all pitches thrown, than they have since we started collecting data on the subject a decade ago.
|
|
The Cardinals trailed, 7-5, with two outs, two on and a 1-2 count, when Freese rifled his game-tying hit to right off the hard-throwing Neftali Feliz, whose fastballs helped him focus.
|
|
The couple got in a few innings of suck face and carnival rides last week at a fair in Mesa, AZ ... near where he was hurling 107 mph fastballs in Spring Training at the time.
|
|
The second number was less exhilarating to Yankees fans; according to the scoreboard, 95 was the average speed of the fastballs being thrown by Aroldis Chapman, who customarily hits triple digits on the radar gun.
|
|
After falling behind 0-2 on fastballs, Tapia hit an 0-2 curveball from Ferguson over the fence in left-center for his sixth home run of the season and a 4-3 Rockies lead.
|
|
Bush entered with a 7-5 lead but said he struggled to put away hitters with high fastballs as Adam Engel, Willy Garcia and Alen Hanson singled before Melky Cabrera's walk-off double with one out.
|
|
In the ninth, Bradley got the first two batters on 98 mph fastballs and the last on a breaking ball as the Diamondbacks (83-60) broke a two-game losing streak after winning the previous 13.
|
|
When Chapman enters through the bullpen gate, he is accompanied by a beat-thumping music medley and a montage of flaming scoreboard graphics, which awaken the crowd as would one of his fastballs under the chin.
|
|
The game's charm is that it still makes room for all kinds: roly-poly GIF machine Bartolo Colon can still sneak not-so-fast fastballs past a remarkably disciplined, impeccably shaped physical specimen like Bryce Harper.
|
|
Sale has lost all four of his starts this season, with an 8.50 E.R.A. His fastballs were harder and his sliders sharper on Tuesday, but he would accept no positive feedback after five mostly lackluster innings.
|
|
And here it was, with tying and winning runs on base: Chapman, for years the hardest thrower in baseball, against Altuve, the reigning winner of the American League Most Valuable Player Award, who feasts on fastballs.
|
|
That does not account for the length of a pitcher's stride, or the deception pitchers employ with their delivery, or the fact that 37 pitchers in 2016 averaged more than 95 miles per hour with their fastballs.
|
|
Ohtani, who hasn't pitched since June 21 after suffering a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right (throwing) elbow, tossed a light bullpen session of 23 pitches on Saturday, throwing 28.31 fastballs, two sliders and two curveballs.
|
|
Rhame, 26, is one of the Mets' most unassuming relief pitchers, taking the mound with thick-frame glasses or recreation goggles, but he inserted himself into the National League East rivalry with two high fastballs against Hoskins.
|
|
Mets 7, Phillies 2 Jacob deGrom was dominating the Philadelphia Phillies in the Mets' home opener on Friday when he yanked a few fastballs in the sixth inning and felt a muscle in his back tighten up.
|
|
After pitching the previous night in a game the Cubs probably should have let him skip, Mr Chapman still lit up the radar gun with ease: he unleashed multiple fastballs at over 22004 miles (22007 km) per hour.
|
|
While harder throwers often struggle to adapt as their fastballs fade, Keuchel, 30, has always grasped the importance of movement and location, a sensibility he shared with a veteran O'Brien caught as a rookie with the Oakland Athletics.
|
|
He played five seasons in the California Angels' farm system, but came to realize that there wasn't much of a future in the major leagues for a side-arming relief pitcher whose fastballs only reached the high 80s.
|
|
Hicks, who routinely throws fastballs in excess of 100 mph, was removed from the Cardinals' 4-2 victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday after striking out David Fletcher for the second out of the ninth inning.
|
|
But on Monday his gifts were on full display: two-seam and four-seam fastballs (the latter still hitting 95) that were spotted inside and out, along with a changeup, a curveball and his latest addition, a slider.
|
|
You see some of the pitches he hits out of the ballpark, and it's really hard to do — fastballs that are in his own batter's box and he's down 29-214 and he's hitting homers to left field.
|
|
It's difficult to make punk rock sound interesting over a full-length, but these guys break up the fastballs with cool shouty 60s pop and whacked out weirdness that sounds like a cross between Buddy Holly and hometown heroes The Gizmos.
|
|
The fastballs Reed throws sometimes cut at the end, and because of his 6-foot-4 frame and long limbs, he appears to throw harder than his average fastball velocity — 92.4 miles per hour, according to the website FanGraphs — might suggest.
|
|
The bottom of the ninth went to Koji Uehara, the ballet-on-tightrope reliever who two nights earlier had given up a Boston lead in the eighth; this evening, his combination of washy fastballs and heavy splitters struck out the side.
|
|
"I would guess that the next thing she is going to do is interviews with people who you know are not going to be throwing hardballs, fastballs, at her — which pretty much means any of the network anchors," said Berkowitz.
|
|
But by the time he was a teenager, he had made baseball his focus, and he eventually found a different kind of speed — fastballs that ranged from the low to mid-90s that caught the attention of major league scouts.
|
|
Although he is 35, Vargas came highly recommended by Eiland, his former pitching coach in Kansas City, for his work ethic and a skill set — guile, movement and mid-80s fastballs — that contrasts with the Mets' rotation of hard throwers.
|
|
Judge, who lifted one home run into the right-field seats, was consistently late on fastballs and lunged early at breaking balls from Adonis Rosa, a 23-year-old right-hander who spent most of the season at Class A Tampa.
|
|
Pitchers are also throwing a higher percentage of sliders, curveballs and changeups than they have in more than a decade — while forcing hitters to respect fastballs that hummed in last season at a record average of 93.1 miles an hour.
|
|
Few relatively clear dividing lines in player development regarding pitchers exist—there are few starting pitchers or relievers that pitch in the major leagues throwing fastballs under 303 mph without having first established themselves in the league with higher velocity.
|
|
After allowing a bloop double and single to start his outing in the top of the first, Rodon struck out three straight to end the threat, buzzing through the heart of the Orioles' order with high-velocity fastballs, biting breaking pitches and changeups.
|
|
I had watched Escobar terrorize the Jays on just such first-pitch fastballs over the plate for the entirety of the ALCS, and when I saw where Harvey's pitch was headed, I hoped that what I knew was going to happen wouldn't happen.
|
|
He began warming up during the bottom of the eighth and heard cheers from the crowd of 41,403 when he entered the game as the scoreboard highlighted his name with a flame-filled graphic to illustrate his ability to throw fastballs 100 mph.
|
|
Sanchez went right after Stanton with a mixture of fastballs and changeups — starting an at-bat in the third inning with a 94-mile-per-hour fastball right down the middle that Stanton harmlessly tapped to the shortstop for a one-pitch out.
|
|
With his team already up 22-25.47, Strasburg, after fouling off three fastballs in the at-bat, blasted a 1-2 fastball for a 404-foot home run to left-center in the second inning off Phillies starter Nick Pivetta (0-2).
|
|
Yankees 5, Giants 2 Since Aroldis Chapman joined the Yankees in early May, fans at Yankee Stadium have made a ritual of crowding over the railings in right field to peer into the bullpen and watch him unfurl 33-mile-per-hour fastballs.
|
|
But Friday's defeat — which started with high and tight fastballs to Mookie Betts and ended with a humbling 4-1 loss on Rick Porcello's one-hitter — swelled their division deficit to seven and a half games, matching their widest of the season.
|
|
The Rays emphasize power now, but in a different way: Through Monday, their hitters had the highest exit velocity in the majors, at 90.1 miles per hour, and their pitchers — who specialize in curveballs and high fastballs — allowed the lowest, at 86.3.
|
|
He figures that his hands are quick enough to react to inside fastballs, even at 100 miles an hour, but if he thinks about driving the ball to left-center, he will stay back on breaking balls and maintain a compact swing.
|
|
Homers remain a natural hazard for pitchers who throw high fastballs, but for the Rays, everything else has a good chance to land in the glove of center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, a premier defender who just signed a six-year, $53.5 million contract.
|
|
In Game 4, he fanned Juan Soto, Howie Kendrick and Ryan Zimmerman with fastballs at 95 or 96 miles an hour, and has improved his velocity since the Astros signed him at age 19 in 2015, attracted more to his polish than his heat.
|
|
The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the third when Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch and with two outs, Rizzo fouled off three 2-2 fastballs before sending the fourth one over the fence in right center for his 21st home run.
|
|
Howard, who played with the Philadelphia Phillies and posted career earnings of roughly $190 million in 13 seasons, said the contract is confirmation Strasburg grew as an all-around pitcher increasing his ability to "mix things up" instead of relying too much on fastballs.
|
|
The Mets put him on the major league roster to start the season rather than keep him in the minors to manipulate his service time, and he had an immediate effect, squaring the barrel of his bat to reroute fastballs that came his way.
|
|
Brought in for a four-out save, Chapman fired seven consecutive fastballs to Brandon Guyer, topping out at 100.3 miles per hour, but it was the last one that cost him as Guyer drove the ball to left–center for a double, bringing in a run.
|
|
The good news for the Mets is that Syndergaard — the right-handed ace who uncorked 92 mph sinkers, 94 mph sliders and 98 mph fastballs while allowing five hits and no walks and striking out seven — should be fine after a blister popped on his right middle finger.
|
|
Duda tied the game, 4-4, in the eighth with a blast over the right-field wall, and the Rays stranded a runner at third base in the ninth against Aroldis Chapman, who harked back to his dominant form of 2016 by firing 104-mile-per-hour fastballs.
|
|
He doesn't hit many homers, but he does everything else: gets on top of eye-high fastballs, stings line-drives, starts rapid-fire double plays, swipes bags and loses his helmet in the process, revealing a blazing tangle of bleached hair (which injured starter Carlos Carrasco sometimes takes care of).
|
|
In 2006, long after the steroid era's peak, he instituted stiffer drug testing policies, though critics say he didn't act soon enough, giving in to the thrill of watching juiced up ballplayers smack fastballs a mile through the sky just as baseball withered in popularity compared to football and basketball.
|
|
"Don't blink, because you won't see it go across the plate," Bonds, the Marlins' hitting coach, said while tightening the Velcro on his black-and-green batting gloves, looking ready to take a few cuts himself against the bevy of 98-mile-per-hour fastballs that were about to be unleashed.
|
|
True, he was in the midst of a dominant season and was being mentioned as one of baseball's elite relievers, but even he did not know how he had managed to produce three strikeouts — all of them looking — on fastballs, with two of the pitches right near the middle of the strike zone.
|
|
Although Chapman, who fired eight gunshots into the wall of his garage after an argument with his girlfriend, expressed little remorse, he became an attraction at Yankee Stadium after he served a 2252-game suspension, with fans swooning each time one of his fastballs registered at more than 222 miles per hour.
|
|
After finally arriving in Toronto in 2008, with the possibility of being ground up further by baseball's labour machinery, Bautista heeded the fateful words from former teammate Vernon Wells—"start earlier"—a reference to timing his now-famous leg kick to catch up to major league fastballs, and unlocked the superstar within.
|
|
My mind doesn't work the same way from the right side, I have to look for fastballs and hope that my mind adjusts to something else, whereas, from the left side i can say, 'Okay, 1-1 count, this guy has been throwing me a lot of changeups, I'm going to sit on one.
|
|
But to see the 219-year-old Smoker now, pumping his fist after big outs for the Mets, firing 96-mile-per-hour fastballs and piling up strikeouts at a rate of more than a one an inning, it is hard to fathom that no one wanted to take a chance on him back then.
|
|
That Game 7 appearance might have been an instructive one — after Guyer and Davis hammered fastballs, Chapman came back out for the ninth inning and relied on his two off-speed pitches, a slider and a changeup, to carry the game into the 10th inning, where the Cubs won it and the World Series.
|
|
It's hard to imagine fans driving across town to see Bartolo Colon or R.A. Dickey, but if you make the trip, you could definitely do much worse than a couple pitchers who are staring Father Time in the face and laughing, floating 89-mph fastballs and a knuckleballs past men young enough to be their sons.
|
|
He rarely pulls the ball with authority, instead waiting back to do his damage (though he had no problem turning on a 97-mph fastball from Luis Severino earlier in the season.) Ohtani happily rides high fastballs out to center field, or he will stay back even longer and deposit it into the cheap seats in left, his opposite field.
|
|
He did not allow any home runs, but the Rockies produced four extra-base hits against Harvey, who threw many of his fastballs at 33 and 93 miles per hour, a touch slower than his previous outing in San Diego, where it seemed as if he were solving some of the puzzling problems that have led to his confounding season.
|
|
"The last inning I couldn't really get my slider where I needed to, and they did a good job of swinging at fastballs, and they got some ground balls that found some holes, but (Danny) Espinosa hit one rally hard and (second baseman) Howie (Kendrick) made an excellent play," said Kershaw, who is 10-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) against Washington.
|
|
When it came time for Klobuchar to ask questions of Kavanaugh, the judge, who has come out throwing 95 mile-per-hour fastballs at the head of, well, everyone, praised her for being fair with him during the previous confirmation hearings -- which came before California professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school in the early 1980s -- an allegation Kavanaugh denies.
|
|
Here's an example from Texas Tech's shootout with Oklahoma State from 2015, in which Mahomes hits a throw from the boundary hash to a receiver on the opposite numbers while backpedaling in the face of an oncoming pass rush: Mahomes can not only fire fastballs without setting his feet, but can also do so across his body, on the move: Since defenders are taught to converge when a quarterback rolls out of the pocket, throws back across the body are generally a very "high risk, high reward" venture.
|
|