Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ben Joyce throws during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Thursday, March. 2, 2023, in Surprise, Ariz. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

Ailing Angels hope 105-mph fireballer Ben Joyce can make speedy impact

Sarah Valenzuela

May 29, 2023

Around this time last

year

, Ben Joyce clocked the fastest pitch in college baseball history. On Sunday, as he fielded questions in front of a score of reporters and some cameras in the hallway outside

of

the Angels‘ clubhouse, Joyce was a major league player.

It means everything to me, Joyce said ahead of the Angels

series finale

2-0 loss

against

to the Miami Marlins. Its what Ive been working for since I was 3

three

years old playing baseball, trying to dream of making it to the big leagues and then finally hearing that call.

The Angels sent for Joyce who has been at their double-A affiliate, the Rocket City Trash Pandas, since

signing

he signed with the Angels last summer

, the franchises second pick in the 2022 draft

on

Friday night, amid uncertainty of

the

health of veteran Matt Moore.

Moore was

put on officially sent to

the injured list with a Grade 2 oblique strain Sunday morning.

, with

Joyces locker

was

prepped and ready by the time he arrived at the clubhouse for the matinee game.

Angels close out homestand by getting swept by Marlins

Joyce

first

went viral last May for throwing a pitch

in a college game clocked at

105.5 mph

miles per hour for the University of Tennessee

. Since

becoming

he became a professional

baseball player

, Joyces pitching velocity has hit 104 mph during big league spring training (Joyce was a non-roster invite this year). And during a relief outing at Rocket City on Wednesday, Joyce hit 103 mph in a scoreless inning.

For reference, r

Reliever Aroldis Chapman holds the Guin

n

ess world record for the fastest

baseball

pitch

ever

thrown at 105.8 mph, which he accomplished while playing for the Cincinnati Reds in a game against the

San Diego

Padres in 2010.

Joyce, whose parents are from Pittsburgh, grew up a Pirates fan

,

and watched Chapman, who

presently

now plays for the Kansas City Royals, several times when the Red

s

and Pirates faced each other. Joyce doesnt have fastest pitch ever on his list of priorities, but hes aware of the possibility.

Getting to see him do that was pretty cool, Joyce said in February of watching Chapman, and then knowing that I’m pretty close to that is a pretty crazy feeling.

Joyces speed

s

impressed early on, though there was a notable concern over his command.

Take Mark DeRosas

very brief

comment about the pitcher after an exhibition

game

in which Team USA, which DeRosa managed, played

against

the Angels in March. DeRosa recalled a conversation he had with Pete Alonso, explaining one of the reasons he wanted to pull the

New York Mets

slugger from the

practice

game.

The Joyce kid from the Angels is throwing a buck-0-3, the last thing I need is you getting one in the ribs right here, DeRosa said on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove”

show

.

But the fireballer has continued to evolve in his second season as a professional, adding to and working on the tools in his pitch arsenal, particularly the cutter he learned during the offseason.

Finding

stats

statistics on

individual

pitches thrown by minor league players in games is not easily accessible to the public without having seen the games live. Joyce explained that

hes

he has gotten swings and misses on his cutter and has had success getting ahead in counts

because of on

it. He also highlighted his sweeper, which he said

hes

he has also been finding success with.

His progress helped prompt his call

–

up, though Angels manager Phil Nevin acknowledged Joyce is still a work in progress.

(Its important to note that Joyce had also been pitching with the tackier balls in MLBs experiment through the southern league, which has had varying results among pitchers there.) Why Shohei Ohtani described his latest 10-strikeout start as ‘average’

Especially his last three outings have been really good, efficient innings, Nevin said before Sundays game. Hes commanding where we wanted him to be. Theres some things we felt like he needed to work on. Were still developing here.

Nevin also hasnt ruled out Joyce becoming a multi-inning reliever

. He has had, whos had

three such outings at double A this month.

Joyce is the most recent of the Angels’ aggressive call-ups. Zach Neto, the Angels first draft pick in 2022, was called up mid-April from double A. Pitcher Sam Bachman, a 2021 draftee, was sent for before the Angels’ series against the Marlins, also a call-up from Rocket City.

Joyce will make the trip with the Angels through Chicago and Houston.

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