The Cardinals will probably trade him for a utility infielder.
The pitch gets to home plate in slightly less than half a second. The hitter has that much less time to react and decide whether to swing at the pitch. I’m sure the pitch appears to be a blur.
Crazy thing to me is that with 5 pitches in the 104-105 range the batter STILL managed to put wood onto 2 of them for fouls.
When Bob Feller hit the scene a batter (Dizzy Dean??) Lit a match and the ump said ‘that ain’t going to help you see that ball’s and the batter replied ‘I just want to make sure he sees me’
Hicks nix sticks!
When I adjusted the speed to about 45mph, I felt like Babe Ruth. If major league pitchers could only get up to 45mph, I'd be a Major League hitter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryne_Duren
100 MPH fastballs http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/duren-hit-em-hit-article-1.877657
9. Ryne Duren
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There’s no doubt that Ryne Duren was a hard thrower, and his one-time manager, Casey Stengel, said it best: “I would not admire hitting against Ryne Duren, because if he ever hit you in the head you might be in the past tense.”
Sure, Duren could throw hard and he could strike people out, too. For his career, his K/9 was a respectable 9.6. The problem with Duren was that his control was awful, as his 1.41 career WHIP shows.
Still, his velocity combined with his unpredictable control made him one of the most intimidating arms of his generation.
103 MPH 10. Mark Wohlers
Wohlers may be the man kicking off the list, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that his velocity put him in the record books.
His 6’4”, 207-pound frame made him an intimidating presence on the mound, and to date he his the third-fastest recorded pitcher in baseball history. During a 1998 spring training game, his fastball clocked in at 103 miles per hour.
The hard-throwing righty’s time in the spotlight may have been brief, as he had three productive years as the Atlanta Braves’ closer before arm problems robbed him of his velocity. Still, he finished his career with 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings, and that’s respectable no matter how you look at it.
5. Bob Feller
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Known as “The Heater from Van Meter” (a nod to his birthplace of Van Meter, Iowa), Feller’s fastball was officially clocked at a then-record 98 miles per hour. He finished his career with 2,581 strikeouts, a number that may have been much higher were it not for three years spent in the military during World War II.
On top of that, legend has it that Feller’s fastball was once clocked at 107 miles per hour. Whether it’s true or false, it’s quite impressive that someone just six feet tall would have that kind of velocity.
1. Aroldis Chapman
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Chapman’s MLB career may still be in its early stages, but his 105 miles per hour fastball doesn’t lie. When it comes to flamethrowers, nobody scares me more than this young right-hander.
If he becomes a starter, other teams will collectively go, “Uh-oh...” when it comes time to face him. Once that happens, the sky’s the limit.
He hit 105 mph with the fastball twice...Batter: "Ump, did you see that?"
Let’s all remember Steve Dalkowski, perhaps the fastest pitcher ever, but never made the bigs because of his lack of control.
He pitched in the sixties before the radar gun was common. Estimates are that he likely regularly threw in the mid-100’s and sometimes got into the upper 100’s.