Rockies' Seth Halvorsen Threw Perhaps the Most Frightening Pitch of 2025 Season

Look out!
Halvorsen has tallied a 4.25 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings for the Rockies this season.
Halvorsen has tallied a 4.25 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings for the Rockies this season. / Rockies TV

It doesn't look fun to be standing in the batter's box just a mere 60 feet and six inches away from Colorado Rockies flamethrower Seth Halvorsen.

That's exactly the situation Washington Nationals outfielder Alex Call found himself in Wednesday night in a pinch-hitting appearance with two outs in the ninth inning at Nationals Park. Taking the place of teammate Jacob Young, Call was barely settled in the box when Halvorsen gave him a scare.

Halvorsen leaned back and fired in a four-seam fastball at 102.1 mph that zoomed behind Call's back and hit the wall behind home plate. Ball one.

That'll wake you up.

According to Bailey Freeman of Foolish Baseball, that was the fastest pitch to miss the plate by at least seven feet in the pitch tracking era (since 2008)—and well ahead of the second-fastest offering, an 88.3 mph pitchout from Denny Bautista in '08.

Call went on to strike out on the next three pitches: a 91.3 mph splitter, a 101.7 mph fastball and a 102 mph four-seamer. But can you blame him?


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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.