Tennessee’s Ben Joyce Is Throwing 103 MPH Fastballs

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Tennessee baseball has a pitcher this year that’s routinely hitting 103 mph on the radar gun. And we already know what you’re thinking. ‘When’s his Tommy John surgery scheduled?’ Well, he underwent the procedure already that caused the right-hander to red shirt his freshman year, so now all we can do is pray he stays healthy because this kid could be an all-time great.

When fans of baseball ask why hitters aren’t going the other way, this clip is a major reason we see the one-dimensional style of hitting we do. These hitters don’t have a shot in hell when a guy can hurl 103.5 mph heaters and then drop 90 mph changeups on your head. Might as well send one hitter after another to try and touch it to get one out the yard.

The only comparison, stuff wise, we can think of is New York Mets’ future Hall of Famer, Jacob deGrom. Sitting well over 100 mph on his fastball with picture-perfect mechanics, yet the injury bug still bites him often. Obviously we’d love to see a young gun sling it through a farm system and mow down big leaguers with this type of force for years to come, however our worries wouldn’t be unwarranted.

Provided we get a healthy Ben Joyce throughout the next couple seasons at Tennessee, baseball is looking at a future no. 1 overall pick. According to scouts, control has been a bit of an issue for the 6-foot-5 hurler — we’ll give him a pass, though. The kid can barely get into a bar, which means he’s got some time to work on his craft. That stuff will play though!

Ben JoyceMLBNCAA baseball

Written by Gary Sheffield, Jr

Gary Sheffield Jr is the son of should-be MLB Hall of Famer, Gary Sheffield. He covers basketball and baseball for OutKick.com, chats with the Purple and Gold faithful on LakersNation, and shitposts on Twitter. You can follow him at GarySheffieldJr

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  1. The last guy I saw throw that hard in college was a dude named Strasburg. That’s rare.
    If I’m his pitching coach I’m saying I’d rather see you sit on easy cheese cruise control around 95-96 and save that big daddy heat when you’re in a pinch. The greatest power pitchers all held back the real ched until they needed it. Pedro, The Unit, Clemens, Verlander, all could hit 100 if they wanted, but they didn’t sit there because they knew they’d never get deep in games to win doing that. They were pitchers. However, If they got you with two strikes or if you got a runner in scoring position, the radar gun was going to start ticking up in a hurry. Guys don’t do that much now and if they did I think it would save some arms.

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