Fastball

Ben Joyce Just Passed Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles Angels History

Los Angeles Angels' pitcher Ben Joyce served as an "opener" in Sunday's loss against the San Francisco Giants, and he broke a record previously held by Shohei Ohtani.

Brady Farkas

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ben Joyce (44) pitches during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on June 16.
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ben Joyce (44) pitches during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on June 16. / Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
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The Los Angeles Angels lost to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday by a score of 13-6 at Oracle Park. The loss drops Los Angeles to 28-43 on the year while the win moves the Giants to 35-37.

Despite the loss, it was still cool to see Angels' "opener" Ben Joyce make some history. He broke a record previously held by Shohei Ohtani.

Per @CodifyBaseball on social media:

The fastest pitches thrown by a Los Angeles Angels starter in the Statcast era:

Ben Joyce, 102.3 MPH*

Ben Joyce, 102.0 MPH*

Ben Joyce, 101.6 MPH*

Ben Joyce, 101.5 MPH*
Shohei Ohtani, 101.4 MPH
Ben Joyce, 101.3 MPH*

Ben Joyce, 101.3 MPH*
Ervin Santana, 101.3 MPH

* - today

Now, the Statcast Era only extends back until 2015, so it's not a huge sample size, but it's still very impressive to see this kind of velocity. Joyce worked two scoreless innings in the loss while striking out three. Had Statcast been around when he was playing, Nolan Ryan likely would have been on this list.

The 23-year-old Joyce was a third-round pick of the Angels in 2022 out of the University of Tennessee. He's 0-0 this year through five games with a 7.94 ERA. He pitched in 12 games a season ago before having arm problems.

The Angels will be back in action on Monday night when they host the Milwaukee Brewers at Angels Stadium. First pitch is set for 9:38 p.m. ET as Jose Soriano (LAA) pitches against rookie Carlos Rodriguez (MIL).

Soriano is 4-5 with a 3.48 ERA.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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