Ben Joyce Unleashes Twin 105 MPH Missiles: “Absolutely Unfair”
The Secret Weapon of Baseball’s Fastest Pitcher: How Ben Joyce Confuses Hitters with Two Fastballs
Photo by Daniel Kucin Jr./Imagn Images
The Big Idea: One Pitcher, Two "Fastballs," Total Confusion
Imagine you’re standing in the batter’s box. A pitcher winds up and throws a ball at 105 miles per hour — that’s faster than a cheetah runs! Your brain barely has time to blink, let alone swing.
Now imagine that same pitcher throws another pitch that looks exactly the same coming out of his hand… but it arrives 7 mph slower and drops like a feather. You swing for the 105 mph heater and miss completely because the ball wasn’t where your brain predicted it would be.
That’s the magic trick Ben Joyce of the Los Angeles Angels has mastered.
Meet Ben Joyce: The Human Rocket Launcher
Who Is He?
- Team: Los Angeles Angels
- Superpower: Throws harder than almost anyone in baseball history
- Record: Hit 105.5 mph in 2024 — one of the five fastest pitches ever tracked
- Challenge: Has always been a little wild (pitchers call this "effectively wild" — the ball goes near the zone, but not always in it)
Fun Fact: 105 mph is so fast that if you blinked at the wrong moment, the ball would travel from the pitcher’s hand to home plate while your eyes were closed!
The Problem: Too Fast, Too Straight
For his first two seasons, Joyce basically had two pitches:
- Four-seam fastball — 100+ mph, flies straight with "rise" (actually just less drop than gravity expects)
- Slider — ~86 mph, breaks sharply sideways and down
Why This Didn’t Work Well
| Problem | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Huge speed gap | 14+ mph difference — hitters could easily time the two speeds |
| Totally different paths | The slider had to start way outside the zone to end up in it |
| Predictable | If the ball looked like it was rising → fastball. If it started high → slider |
| Poor results | Below-average strikeouts, too many walks |
Think of it like this: Imagine a magician who only does two tricks — one super fast, one super slow. You’d figure it out pretty quickly!
The Breakthrough: Enter the "Splinker"
In 2024, Joyce started tinkering with a new grip after chatting with teammates. He created a splinker — a hybrid between a splitter and a sinker.
What Makes It Special?
| Feature | Four-Seam Fastball | Splinker (New Pitch) |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 100–105 mph | ~98 mph |
| Spin | Lots of backspin | Very little spin |
| Movement | "Rises" (drops less) | Drops like a stone |
| Look out of hand | Identical | Identical |
The Physics Secret (ELI5 Version):
Normally, a fastball has backspin that creates lift — like an airplane wing. Joyce holds his splinker differently so his arm speed doesn’t transfer into spin. Less spin = less lift = the ball falls more. It’s like throwing a knuckleball at 98 mph!
The Magic Trick: "Tunneling" — Three Pitches, One Tunnel
Here’s where it gets really cool. All three pitches now come out of the exact same "tunnel" — the same release point, same arm angle, same look.
RELEASE POINT (Same for all 3!)
│
▼
┌─────────┼─────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼105mph 98mph 86mph
Straight Drops Breaks
"Rise" Sharp Hard
Why Hitters Are Helpless
- Same starting line → Brain can’t tell them apart early
- Different endings →
- Four-seam: Stays up → strike high
- Splinker: Drops → strike low
- Slider: Breaks away → ball (or chase)
- Joyce’s wildness helps! → Since he doesn’t hit his spots perfectly, hitters can’t even guess "he always throws the splinker low"
Wyatt Langford (All-Star hitter) literally froze on a strike-three four-seamer because his brain expected it to drop like the splinker!
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Since adding the splinker (small sample, but wow):
- Highest swing-and-miss rate of his career
- Most chases (swings at balls) of his career
- Batters look more confused than ever
Baseball Prospectus’s fancy metrics confirm: Both his four-seamer AND slider are harder to identify now because they both "look like" the splinker at first.
How Rare Is This? The Velocity Gap Club
Most pitchers with two fastballs have a 3–5 mph gap. Joyce has 6–7 mph.
| Pitcher | Fastball 1 | Fastball 2 | Gap | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Joyce | 105 mph | 98 mph | 7 mph | Only one with this gap at this speed |
| José Soriano | 98 mph | 93 mph | 5 mph | Taught Joyce the grip! |
| Jhoan Durán | 102 mph | 99 mph | 3 mph | Popularized "splinker" term |
| Paul Skenes | 100 mph | 95 mph | 5 mph | Rookie sensation |
| Joe Boyle | 97 mph | 92 mph | 5 mph | More like a splitter |
Joyce is in a category of one: Nobody else throws a 98 mph "sinker" and a 105 mph four-seamer from the same arm slot.
The Journey: From "Just a Thrower" to "Pitching Wizard"
- 2022–2023: Drafted, debuted, struggled — just a guy who throws hard
- Mid-2024: Starts experimenting with sinker grips, invents splinker
- Late 2024: Shoulder surgery → misses rest of season
- August 2025: Returns — throwing splinker more than ever
- Now: Starting counts with it, attacking the zone, confusing everyone
The Lesson: Joyce didn’t try to become a "crafty lefty" or learn a changeup. He leaned into his superpower (velocity) and found a new way to weaponize it.
Summary: Why This Matters
| What Joyce Did | Why It Works |
|---|---|
| Added a 98 mph "sinker" with almost no spin | Creates massive drop without slowing arm down |
| Throws it from the exact same slot as 105 mph heater | Hitters see identical release → total tunnel |
| Uses it early in counts, not just as a "putaway" | Sets up everything else, keeps hitters honest |
| Embraces his wildness as a feature, not bug | Unpredictable + unpickable = nightmare for batters |
Bottom line: Ben Joyce went from a one-trick pony (throw hard, hope for the best) to a complete reliever who might soon be one of the best in baseball — all by adding one pitch that looks like his best pitch but behaves totally differently.
FAQ: Your Burning Questions Answered
Q: Wait, a "sinker" that doesn’t sink?
A: Great catch! "Sinker" is a misleading name. It doesn’t actually sink — it just drops more than a four-seamer. Since our brains expect a fastball to "rise" (drop less), the sinker looks like it sinks by comparison.
Q: How does he throw 98 mph with "less effort"?
A: He’s not using less effort — his arm moves just as fast. But his grip leaks energy. Think of it like a garden hose: same water pressure, but if you pinch the nozzle weird, the stream comes out different. His grip "pinches" the ball so spin doesn’t build up.
Q: Why don’t all hard throwers do this?
A: Two reasons: (1) It’s incredibly hard to control a pitch you’re basically "mis-gripping" on purpose. (2) Most pitchers don’t have 105 mph to play with — the contrast is what makes Joyce’s version special.
Q: Is the splinker the same as a splitter?
A: Close cousins! A splitter is usually slower (85–90 mph) with tumbling action. Joyce’s splinker is thrown at sinker speed (98 mph) with sinker-like movement. It’s a "fast splitter" or "slow sinker" — hence splin-ker.
Q: Can he keep this up? What about his shoulder?
A: That’s the million-dollar question. High-velocity pitching is risky. But the splinker might actually save his arm — he can get outs at 98 mph instead of maxing out at 105 every pitch. Time will tell!
Final Thought: Baseball is a game of inches and milliseconds. Ben Joyce found a way to make 7 mph and a few inches of drop feel like a Grand Canyon. Sometimes the best new pitch isn’t a curveball or changeup — it’s just your fastball, disguised.