Dodgers Broadcasters Throw Shade at Angels, Suggest They're Juicing Radar Gun

J.P. Hoornstra | Sep 6, 2024

Aug 29, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ben Joyce (44) pitches in the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Ben Joyce set a record in the Angels' 6-2 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday by striking out Tommy Edman with a 105.5-mph fastball. It was the fastest pitch thrown for strike three during MLB's Statcast era, and possibly ever.

Or was it?

Dodgers broadcasters Tim Neverett and Rick Monday attempted to douse some cold water on the contention that Joyce, 23, touched 105.5 — in no uncertain terms.

Go stand in the box and see if it’s 105 then. @Dodgers yall have the shittiest announcers and radio guys all they do is talk shit about other teams and if this was Kopech throwing 105.5 they’d be slobbering all over it pic.twitter.com/iApsVEYDRa

— On Deck on YT🪽 (@YT_OnDeck) September 4, 2024

“I don’t know, I might have a bridge in Brooklyn for you. They’re saying it was the fastest pitch in the Statcast era — fastest one for a strikeout, and fastest pitch in Major League Baseball this year. No disrespect to Ben Joyce; he’s a hard thrower, but no human being can throw it the fast; I’m sorry.”

- Tim Neverett, Dodgers play-by-play voice

Actually, one human can throw it faster.

Aroldis Chapman has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as having thrown the fastest pitch on record. His 105.8-mph pitch to Tony Gwynn Jr. came in 2010, when he was 22 years old and pitching for the Cincinnati Reds.

Critically, that pitch was thrown on the road, in San Diego — which strikes at the heart of Neverett and broadcast partner Rick Monday's contention that the Angels might have been juicing the radar gun for Joyce on Tuesday night.

Now we know, and when I had the conversations with a former general manager and he said, ‘Yes.’… And we were not asking about Ben Joyce or any other player with the Angels or the Dodgers, for that matter, but the conversation came to is that ‘Hey, are there times that if you have a pitcher that you know pitches and tries to chase velocity, did you ever kind of toy with the electronics?’ And the answer was, ‘Yes.'

- Rick Monday, Dodgers radio analyst

The conspiracy theory has some other holes.

The electronics system MLB uses to track pitch speed (and a variety of other metrics) got a huge upgrade in 2020 when the league moved from TrackMan to its current Hawk-Eye system. By comparison, the days of the radar gun seem quaint. Even Chapman's record speed predates Statcast, which came online in 2014.

For those who consider comparing speed readings using different technologies to be apples-to-apples, there's this: Joyce threw a ball 105.5 mph at the University of Tennessee in 2022:

105.5 MPH 🤯

Tennessee pitcher Ben Joyce broke his own record for fastest pitch in college baseball history.

🎥 @PitchingNinja | H/T @Vol_Baseball pic.twitter.com/uNyTICAJlK

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 1, 2022

Recently, Joyce threw a pitch 104 mph on the road, in Kansas City, which at least suggests he can touch 105 in any ballpark.

If Joyce can keep this up, he's in line for a long career closing games in Anaheim. Perhaps he can make enough to afford that bridge in Brooklyn.