Major League Baseball recently made its Statcast data available to the public, putting leaderboards up on MLB.com. The categories include home run distance, exit velocity of home runs, average hit velocity and average pitch velocity. A lot of it was available in other places before, but it’s still nice to have it all collected like this.
Aroldis Chapman broke MLB.com’s new fastest-pitch leaderboard
Who throws the fastest fastball? There’s a clear winner, and there is no second place.
David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
However, there’s one category, the fastest pitches thrown in 2015, that is ruined and/or made amazing by one player. Say, who’s thrown the fastest pitches this season?
Trust me, it goes on for a lot longer than that. And second place? There is no second place. It’s off the page, and the maximum number of displayed pitches is 50. Aroldis Chapman has thrown the fastest pitch in baseball this season. He’s also thrown the 49 fastest pitches after that.
The closer for your favorite team throws hard, certainly. But there is only one Aroldis Chapman, and he’s a freak.
(Hat tip to Jesse Spector)
★★★
SB Nation video archives: The best first pitch and the absolute worst ones (2013)
