100 Miles From Home

 

I think after some time has gone by, we're gonna look back at this year and see that Mason Miller was the biggest trendsetter in the MLB. Miller burst onto the scene as a killer relief piece who routinely hits 100mph, and so many other teams rushed to get their own. And the majority of them have been finding success this year. 

The most notable Miller copycat comes from Miller's own division, the AL West. Ben Joyce made a name for himself for throwing 105 miles per hour at U of Tennessee, which was virtually unheard of. Once the Angels drafted him, he eventually made some appearances last year, but found more of a footing in the Angels' bullpen this year. Once Carlos Estevez was traded he was even more vital, and his 100+ mph stuff became the talk of the town. With only a year or so under his belt as a major league reliever, Joyce already has been given his own MLB nickname: the Volunteer Fireman, coined as such due to the vacancy in the ninth leading to Joyce getting the closing job. His attitude was apparently 'sure, why not?', and since then he's been untouchable in save situations. 

Is there a chance Joyce could throw his arm out? Yeah. He's already had Tommy John surgery [in college!!] but that's never a guarantee that he'll never need it again. Still, his 105-caliber stuff has been well regarded in Anaheim, and he's probably gonna be a crucial piece of future Angels teams. As will his brother Zach, a fellow Tennessee hurler who the Angels drafted a year after they drafted Ben. Look for him to come up the pipe at some point.

But yes, someone like Joyce bursting onto the scene does make it clear that other teams can develop players as lethal as Mason Miller. The Diamondbacks have Justin Martinez, who's got a 1.82 ERA so far this year. The Pirates have Aroldis Chapman, who can still pitch over 100 and stifle opposing batters. Jhoan Duran famously can reach 100 mph in Minnesota, even if he hasn't been as dominant as he was in 2023. And also, there's this Paul Skenes character that can start games with that kind of velocity. The key to this sort of competition is sustainability. It's a lot to pitch 100 mph, but you have to keep it going for a while, rather than flame out quickly. Stephen Strasburg threw stuff nobody could hit for an entire decade, then his arm disallowed him a second one. The risks are there, and the pitchers know it. And hopefully they're knowledgable enough about conditioning and variance, so that they don't walk on eggshells for the rest of their careers. 

The Angels, meanwhile, don't have a ton left to do this season. Trout returning, if that even happens, won't save the team. Rendon's return lasted, like, a week or so. We're now down to letting some Trash Pandas fill out the rotation, for better or worse. It's good that big performers like Joyce or Logan O'Hoppe can provide relevance, because without Ohtani there's less to care about than ever for the Angels.

Coming Tomorrow- He didn't get the contract he wanted because he was pitching like he was overworked last year. He gets to the majors, and pitches like he was overworked last year. He misses a month. Then returns...and stops giving up runs.