When I was a kid, my best friend and I would compete every day against my brother and cousin in "two-on-two" baseball. Impossible you say? False. Not when you limit the field to anything hit to the left of the flag pole. Plus, with pitcher's poison in play, ground balls easily turned into outs if you could throw them back to the pitcher before the runner tagged the seesaw duck ride that served as first base. If you hit the ball into Todd Landis' backyard or into the basketball courts past centerfield, it was a home run. Anything hit into the forest past the infield was an automatic double.
Anyway, I was always the power pitcher in these games. I threw the hardest and used to pretend that I was Roger Clemens, blowing smoke past Cal Ripken (my brother) and John Kruk (cousin). Since then, I've always followed the careers of power pitchers. Clemens, Kerry Wood and Curt Schilling were my favorites. Even today, I'll drop whatever I was scheduled to do if I have the opportunity to watch Josh Beckett or Tim Lincecum pitch.
With that in mind, I picked up a copy of The 2009 Bill James Handbook and found some phenomenal statistics that just don't exist anywhere else on the web or in print. Included in this statistical treasure trove is a list of the top ten starting pitchers and relievers with the highest average fastballs in both the National and American League. This, as you might imagine, made me incredibly happy. Here's the list, and I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book if you are a stat-freak and/or fantasy baseball fanatic -
2008 NL Starting Pitchers (Minimum 162 IP)
Rank, Pitcher (AVG Fastball)
1.) Ubaldo Jimenez (94.9)
2.) Tim Lincecum (94.1)
3.) Edinson Volquez (93.6)
4.) Johnny Cueto (93.4)
5.) Mike Pelfrey (92.7)
6.) Roy Oswalt (92.6)
7.) Ben Sheets (92.6)
8.) Manny Parra (92.4)
9.) Matt Cain (92.4)
10.) Todd Wellenmeyer (92.3)
2008 AL Starting Pitchers (Minimum 162 IP)
Rank, Pitcher (AVG Fastball)
1.) Felix Hernandez (94.6)
2.) Ervin Santana (94.4)
3.) Josh Beckett (94.3)
4.) A.J. Burnett (94.3)
5.) Edwin Jackson (93.9)
6.) Justin Verlander (93.6)
7.) Zach Greinke (93.3)
8.) Jeremy Guthrie (93.2)
9.) Matt Garza (93.2)
10.) Roy Halladay (92.7)
2008 NL Relief Pitchers (Minimum 50 IP)
Rank, Pitcher (AVG Fastball)
1.) Matt Lindstrom (96.9)
2.) Jonathan Broxton (96.3)
3.) Brian Wilson (95.8)
4.) Jose Valverde (95.5)
5.) Joel Hanrahan (95.2)
6.) Tony Pena (95.1)
7.) Jesus Colome (94.9)
8.) Kerry Wood (94.8)
9.) Francisco Cordero (94.6)
10.) Jeremy Affeldt (94.6)
2008 AL Relief Pitchers (Minimum 50 IP)
Rank, Pitcher (AVG Fastball)
1.) Manny Delcarmen (95.5)
2.) Matt Thornton (95.3)
3.) Jonathan Papelbon (95.3)
4.) Kyle Farnsworth (94.9)
5.) Jose Veras (94.9)
6.) Frank Francisco (94.7)
7.) Grant Balfour (94.6)
8.) Dennis Sarfate (94.6)
9.) Santiago Casilla (94.4)
10.) Mark Lowe (94.3)
A few quick notes:
It should go without saying that relievers have higher average fastballs because they don't have to pace themselves for 6-9 innings. If Josh Beckett was closing instead of starting, he'd average around 96-97 MPH instead of 94. Also, it's more telling to see who's not on this list than who is. The absence of Carlos Zambrano, Brad Lidge, Joe Nathan and Scott Kazmir validate what is already evident in their declining strikeouts/nine innings numbers - that they have lost some velocity on their once potent fastballs. This information is key when drafting your fantasy baseball team and it's the kind of stuff that seam-heads like me absolutely eat up.
