Los Angeles Angels' Flamethrower Ben Joyce Hits 102 MPH For First Career Strikeout

The rookie out of the University of Tennessee announced his presence in a big way on Monday night during his major league debut.

Los Angeles Angels rookie Ben Joyce announced his presence in a big way on Monday night, making his major league debut by hitting 102 mph for his first career strikeout. 

The University of Tennessee product struck out White Sox lefty Gavin Sheets with a quirky 3/4 delivery. 

Ben Joyce 102mph for his first big league strikeout! 🔥🔥🔥

pic.twitter.com/gOpoKyy6EN

— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) May 30, 2023

He is currently the No. 9 ranked prospect in the Angels organization.

From his MLB.com prospect profile:

When you throw 105 mph, people are going to notice. That’s what Joyce did in his lone season for Tennessee in 2022 after transferring from Walters State CC (Tenn.), but he missed the 2021 season because of Tommy John surgery. Even though his resume was short, the Angels decided they couldn’t pass up his fastball and took him in the third round of the 2022 Draft, and he pitched well in Double-A during his pro debut.

After averaging 101 mph with his fastball at Tennessee, he hovered around 100 mph with Rocket City. Though the heater can get hit because it straightens out at times, it can feature some armside run, and when he works up in the zone, it’s tough to square up coming from a lower arm slot. He can miss bats regularly with his slider, which averaged around 83 mph, and the Angels are working to get him to throw his breaking ball harder and close the velocity gap between it and his heater. Joyce has mixed in a changeup in the past with some effectiveness, but it’s a distant (and not often used) third offering.

While he has the stuff to pitch late in games and in high-leverage situations, he doesn’t have a track record of doing so. The injury history -- he missed most of 2018-19 with shoulder, elbow and growth-plate issues -- and the fact that he had multiple days off between outings in college means he’s going to have to prove he can handle a professional reliever workload while moving away from being so fastball-reliant after throwing the pitch 80 percent of the time in 2022.

The Angels currently lead the White Sox, 4-3, in the top of the eighth inning.

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