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Ben Joyce is a bright spot in a season of Lost Angels

Ben Joyce has learned how to pitch, not throw

In 2023, Joyce was a two-pitch pitcher – four-seam and slider. This season, he has added a sinker and a change-up that he mixes with left-handed hitters. Adding those two pitches has caused him to use his four-seamer less frequently, cutting its usage nearly in half.

However, his four-seamer has improved and since hitters are seeing him less often, they are having a hard time adjusting during the at-bat.

Four-seam Stuff+ Average speed Average exit velocity Hit touch%
2023 101 100.9 miles per hour 90.8 miles per hour .310 23.5%
2024 124 102.1 85.7 miles per hour .286 28.9%

A fastball of this caliber can get you to the major leagues and probably stay there. It's still the pitch we see most often from Joyce, and rightfully so.

But knowing there's more to come from his hand makes hitting the 100-plus mph fastball even harder. When he tunnels the fastball with his sinker and slider, it's almost impossible to know what you're looking at until it's too late.

Joyce's sinker has really helped him take a leap forward this season. A 97 mph pitch takes some off, so to speak, while adding downward motion. The pitch has reached 101+ velocity, with that downward motion causing an average launch angle of -10 degrees. Essentially, it becomes a ground ball when you make contact. This has helped boost his ground ball rate from 46.4% last season to a remarkable 59.6% this season.

Use of the slider is down about five percent from last season, but it was still productive. A whiff rate of 29.6% on a .214 batter average. The problem with his slider was more that he dominated it and the pitch sometimes stayed in a zone where the batter could do more damage. I say that, but the damage was limited to no extra-base hits off the pitch this season, albeit a small sample size.

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