Ben Joyce of the Angels misses the fastest pitch ever recorded by 0.3 mph

Nobody is throwing the ball harder than Los Angeles Angels rookie Ben Joyce, and he's on the verge of doing what no one else has done before.

With a 105.5 mph fastball that struck out Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Tommy Edman, Joyce was 0.3 mph short of the fastest pitch ever recorded in MLB history. Only Aroldis Chapman has thrown the ball harder off the mound with throws of 105.8 mph and 105.7 mph.

The radar gun showed a speed of 106 miles per hour.

The pitch is also the pitch with the fastest strikeout in MLB history.

This isn't the first time Joyce has hit 105.5 mph, as he did it in college when he was a flamethrower at Tennessee. His heat has been known for years, and his success has always just been a matter of controlling his control. So far, this has been a relative success in 2024.

Joyce's place in history has its limits, however. Statcast has only been around since 2015, with MLB tracking pitches using the less reliable PITCHf/x system from 2006 to 2015, when Chapman's record pitch was recorded.

Before PITCHf/x, pitches were measured with even less reliable radar guns, in a way that potentially put previous speed gods like Nolan Ryan at a disadvantage. MLB pitchers have never been better trained to hit high speeds, but limitations in measurement make the title of “fastest pitcher of all time” a little harder to achieve than one might wish.

And of course, that speed didn't matter much to the Angels, as Mookie Betts' 105 mph fastball ultimately had a bigger impact in the Dodgers' 6-2 overtime win.

All of this made for Shohei Ohtani’s eventful return to Angel Stadium.