However, he excelled the most in baseball, and still holds a Connecticut state record for striking out 24 batters in a single game. Dalkowski once won a $5 bet with teammate Herm Starrette who said that he could not throw a baseball through a wall. Dalkowski managed to throw just 41 innings that season. Some experts believed it went as fast as 110mph (180km/h), others that his pitches traveled at less than that speed. Steve Dalkowski, the man who inspired the character Nuke LaLoosh in "Bull Durham," died from coronavirus last Sunday. His first year in the minors, Dalkowski pitched 62 innings, struck out 121 and walked 129. Over the years I still pitched baseball and threw baseball for cross training. But after walking 110 in just 59 innings, he was sent down to Pensacola, where things got worse; in one relief stint, he walked 12 in two innings. Yet nobody else in attendance cared. We will argue that the mechanics of javelin throwing offers insights that makes it plausible for Dalko being the fastest pitcher ever, attaining pitching speeds at and in excess of 110 mph. Ive been playing ball for 10 years, and nobody can throw a baseball harder than that, said Grammas at the time. The story is fascinating, and Dalko is still alive. We have some further indirect evidence of the latter point: apparently Dalkowskis left (throwing) arm would hit his right (landing) leg with such force that he would put a pad on his leg to preserve it from wear and tear. [25] He drank heavily as a player and his drinking escalated after the end of his career. . Dalkowski, 'fastest pitcher in history,' dies at 80, Smart backs UGA culture after fatal crash, arrests, Scherzer tries to test pitch clock limits, gets balk, UFC's White: Miocic will fight Jones-Gane winner, Wolverines' Turner wows with 4.26 40 at combine, Jones: Not fixated on Cowboys' drought, just '23, Flyers GM: Red Wings nixed van Riemsdyk trade, WR Addison to Steelers' Pickett: 'Come get me', Snowboarding mishap sidelines NASCAR's Elliott, NHL trade tracker: Latest deals and grades, Inside the long-awaited return of Jon Jones and his quest for heavyweight glory. He was even fitted for a big league uniform. His story offers offer a cautionary tale: Man cannot live by fastball alone. This cost Dalkowski approximately 9 miles per hour (14km/h), not even considering the other factors. In 1960, when he pitched in Stockton, California, Dalkowski struck out 262 batters in 170 innings. Steve Dalkowski met Roger Maris once. At 5'11" and weighing 170 pounds, he did not exactly fit the stereotype of a power pitcher, especially one. It turns out, a lot more than we might expect. At Pensacola, he crossed paths with catcher Cal Ripken Sr. and crossed him up, too. He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100mph (160km/h). Extreme estimates place him throwing at 125 mph, which seems somewhere between ludicrous and impossible. That may be, but for our present purposes, we want simply to make the case that he could have done as good or better than 110 mph. Consider the following remark about Dalkowski by Sudden Sam McDowell, an outstanding MLB pitcher who was a contemporary of Dalkowskis. Later this month, Jontahan Hock will unveil a wonderful new documentary called "Fastball" -- I was lucky enough to consult . Our team working on the Dalko Project have come to refer to video of Dalko pitching as the Holy Grail. Like the real Holy Grail, we doubt that such video will ever be found. The legend [22] As of October 2020[update], Guinness lists Chapman as the current record holder. [17], Dalkowski's wildness frightened even the bravest of hitters. At 5 11 and 175 pounds, Dalko gave no impression of being an imposing physical specimen or of exhibiting some physical attributes that set him apart from the rest of humanity. Davey Johnson, a baseball lifer who played with him in the. Dalkowski was suffering from alcohol-related dementia, and doctors told her that he might only live a year, but he sobered up, found some measure of peace, and spent the final 26 years of his life there, reconnecting with family and friends, and attending the occasional New Britain Rock Cats game, where he frequently threw out ceremonial first pitches. Perhaps Dalkos humerus, radius and ulna were far longer and stronger than average, with muscles trained to be larger and stronger to handle the increased load, and his connective tissue (ligaments and tendons) being exceptionally strong to prevent the arm from coming apart. This video consists of Dalkowski. To see this, please review the pitches of Aroldis Chapman and Nolan Ryan above. Some uncertainty over the cause of his injury exists, however, with other sources contending that he damaged his elbow while throwing to first after fielding a bunt from Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton. Screenwriter and film director Ron Shelton played in the Baltimore Orioles minor league organization soon after Dalkowski. In 1970, Sports Illustrateds Pat Jordan (himself a control-challenged former minor league pitcher) told the story of Williams stepping into the cage when Dalkowski was throwing batting practice: After a few minutes Williams picked up a bat and stepped into the cage. But none of it had the chance to stick, not as long as Dalkowski kept drinking himself to death. Steve Dalkowski could never run away from his legend of being the fastest pitcher of them all. Over his final 57 frames, he allowed just one earned run while striking out 110 and walking just 21; within that stretch, he enjoyed a 37-inning scoreless streak. Just as free flowing as humanly possible. The writers immediately asked Williams how fast Steve Dalkowski really was. The cruel irony, of course, is that Dalkowski could have been patched up in this day and age. Elizabeth City, NC (27909) Today. He also allowed just two homers, and posted a career-best 3.04 ERA. On September 8, 2003, Dalkowski threw out the ceremonial first pitch before an Orioles game against the Seattle Mariners while his friends Boog Powell and Pat Gillick watched. The next year at Elmira, Weaver asked Dalkowski to stop throwing so hard and also not to drink the night before he pitched small steps toward two kinds of control. [19] Most observers agree that he routinely threw well over 110 miles per hour (180km/h), and sometimes reached 115 miles per hour (185km/h). Williams took three level, disciplined practice swings, cocked his bat, and motioned with his head for Dalkowski to deliver the ball. We were telling him to hold runners close, teaching him a changeup, how to throw out of the stretch. Then he gave me the ball and said, Good luck.'. He was 80. Born in 1939, active in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Dalko, as he was called, never quite made it into the MLB. Pitching for the Kingsport (Tennessee) Orioles on August 31, 1957, in Bluefield, West Virginia, Dalkowski struck out 24 Bluefield hitters in a single minor league game, yet issued 18 walks, and threw six wild pitches. During the 1960s under Earl Weaver, then the manager for the Orioles' double-A affiliate in Elmira, New York, Dalkowski's game began to show improvement. He finished his minor league career with a record of 46-80 and an ERA of 5.57. He was arrested more times for disorderly conduct than anybody can remember. During this time, he became hooked on cheap winethe kind of hooch that goes for pocket change and can be spiked with additives and ether. But, no matter how embellished, one fact always remained: Dalkowski struck out more batters and walked more batters per nine-inning game than any professional pitcher in baseball history. Thats where hell always be for me. Our hypothesis is that Dalko put these biomechanical features together in a way close to optimal. With Kevin Costner, Derek Jeter, Denard Span, Craig Kimbrel. Yet his famous fastball was so fearsome that he became, as the. Ted Williams, arguably one of the best batting eyes in the history of the game, who faced Bob Feller and numerous others, instead said Steve Dalkowski was the fastest pitcher ever. In 1963, near the end of spring training, Dalkowski struck out 11 batters in 7 2/3 innings. Read more Print length 304 pages Language English Publisher Whenever Im passing through Connecticut, I try to visit Steve and his sister, Pat. This month, a documentary and a book about Dalkowski's life will be released . The current official record for the fastest pitch, through PITCHf/x, belongs to Aroldis Chapman, who in 2010 was clocked at 105.1 mph. This page was last edited on 19 October 2022, at 22:42. If you told him to aim the ball at home plate, that ball would cross the plate at the batters shoulders. It was tempting, but I had a family and the number one ranking in the world throwing javelins, and making good money, Baseball throwing is very similar to javelin throwing in many ways, and enables you to throw with whip and zip. I cant imagine how frustrating it must have been for him to have that gift but not be able to harness it. I think baseball and javelin cross training will help athletes in either sport prevent injury and make them better athletes. [28], Kingsport Times News, September 1, 1957, page 9, Association of Professional Ball Players of America, "Steve Dalkowski had the stuff of legends", "Steve Dalkowski, Model for Erratic Pitcher in 'Bull Durham,' Dies at 80", "Connecticut: Two Games, 40 K's For Janinga", "Single-Season Leaders & Records for Strikeouts per 9 IP", "Steve Dalkowski Minor League Statistics & History", "The Fastest Pitcher in Baseball History", "Fastest Pitchers Ever Recorded in the Major Leagues - 2014 post-season UPDATES thru 10/27", "The Fastest Pitch Ever is Quicker Than the Blink of an Eye", "New Britain legend Dalkowski now truly a baseball immortal", The Birdhouse: The Phenom, an interview with Steve Dalkowski in October 2005, "A Hall of Fame for a Legendary Fastball Pitcher", "How do you solve a problem like Dalkowski? He was said to have thrown a pitch that tore off part of a batter's ear. Dalkowski warmed up and then moved 15 feet (5m) away from the wooden outfield fence. At only 511 and 175 pounds, what was Dalkowskis secret? On a staff that also featured Gillick and future All-Star Dave McNally, Dalkowski put together the best season of his career. [21] Earl Weaver, who had years of exposure to both pitchers, said, "[Dalkowski] threw a lot faster than Ryan. Reporters and players moved quickly closer to see this classic confrontation. We'll never know for sure, of course, and it's hard to pinpiont exactly what "throwing the hardest pitch" even means. The problem was he couldnt process all that information. He was sentenced to time on a road crew several times and ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. The southpaw was clocked at 105.1 mph while pitching for the Reds in 2011. . On May 7, 1966, shortly after his release from baseball, The Sporting News carried a blurred, seven-year-old photograph of one Stephen Louis Dalkowski, along with a brief story that was headlined . Ron Shelton once. He was 80. Most likely, some amateur videographer, some local news station, some avid fan made some video of his pitching. In line with such an assessment of biomechanical factors of the optimum delivery, improvements in velocity are often ascribed to timing, tempo, stride length, angle of the front hip along with the angle of the throwing shoulder, external rotation, etc. Note that we view power (the calculus derivative of work, and thus the velocity with which energy operates over a distance) as the physical measure most relevant and important for assessing pitching speed. Steve Dalkowski, a wild left-hander who was said to have been dubbed "the fastest pitcher in baseball history" by Ted Williams, died this week in New Britain, Connecticut. That is what haunts us. This website provides the springboard. The Steve Dalkowski Project attempts to separate fact from fiction, the truth about his pitching from the legends that have emerged. Beverage, Dick: Secretary-Treasurer for the Association of Professional Ballplayers of America. That's fantastic. Dalkos 110 mph pitching speed, once it is seriously entertained that he attained it, can lead one to think that Dalko was doing something on the mound that was completely different from other pitchers, that his biomechanics introduced some novel motions unique to pitching, both before and after. Perhaps that was the only way to control this kind of high heat and keep it anywhere close to the strike zone. Instead, he started the season in Rochester and couldnt win a game. Players who saw Dalkowski pitch did not see a motion completely at odds with what other pitchers were doing. Moreover, even if the physics of javelin throwing were entirely straightforward, it would not explain the physics of baseball throwing, which requires correlating a baseballs distance thrown (or batted) versus its flight angle and velocity, an additional complicating factor being rotation of the ball (such rotation being absent from javelin throwing). "[15] The hardest throwers in baseball currently are recognized as Aroldis Chapman and Jordan Hicks, who have each been clocked with the fastest pitch speed on record at 105.1mph (169km/h). Said Shelton, In his sport, he had the equivalent of Michaelangelo's gift but could never finish a painting. However, several factors worked against Dalkowski: he had pitched a game the day before, he was throwing from a flat surface instead of from a pitcher's mound, and he had to throw pitches for 40minutes at a small target before the machine could capture an accurate measurement. Gripping and tragic, Dalko is the definitive story of Steve "White Lightning" Dalkowski, baseball's fastest pitcher ever. Dalkowski, who once struck out 24 batters in a minor league game -- and walked 18 -- never made it to the big leagues. Just 5-foot-11 and 175, Dalkowski had a fastball that Cal Ripken Sr., who both caught and managed him, estimated at 110 mph. Hes the fireballer who can summon nearly unthinkable velocity, but has no idea where his pitch will go. Here is a video of Zeleznys throwing a baseball at the Braves practice (reported on Czech TV see the 10 second mark): How fast has a javelin thrower been able to pitch a baseball? We give the following world record throw (95.66 m) by Zelezny because it highlights the three other biomechanical features that could have played a crucial role in Dalkowski reaching 110 mph. He also learned, via a team-administered IQ test, that Dalkowski scored the lowest on the team. Most obvious in this video is Zeleznys incredible forward body thrust. 2023 Easton Ghost Unlimited Review | Durable or not? Baseball pitching legend from the 1960's, Steve Dalkowski, shown May 07, 1998 with his sister, Patti Cain, at Walnut Hill Park in New Britain, Conn. (Mark Bonifacio / NY Daily News via Getty Images) Thats tough to do. He's the fireballer who can. by Retrosheet. Though he pitched from the 1957 through the 1965 seasons, including single A, double A, and triple A ball, no video of his pitching is known to exist. And . Dalkowski was invited to major league spring training in 1963, and the Orioles expected to call him up to the majors. They were . The reason we think he may be over-rotating is that Nolan Ryan, who seemed to be every bit as fast as Chapman, tended to have a more compact, but at least as effective, torque (see Ryan video at the start of this article). 9881048 343 KB Which, well, isn't. In his first five seasons a a pro he'd post K/9IP rates of 17.6, 17.6, 15.1, 13.9, and 13.1. "[5], With complications from dementia, Steve Dalkowski died from COVID-19 in New Britain, Connecticut, on April 19, 2020. When he returned in 1964, Dalkowski's fastball had dropped to 90 miles per hour (140km/h), and midway through the season he was released by the Orioles. At Stockton in 1960, Dalkowski walked an astronomical 262 batters and struck out the same number in 170 innings. They couldnt keep up. Steve Dalkowski, who died of COVID-19 last year, is often considered the fastest pitcher in baseball history. Ive never seen another one like it. Look at the video above where he makes a world record of 95.66 meters, and note how in the run up his body twists clockwise when viewed from the top, with the javelin facing away to his right side (and thus away from the forward direction where he must throw). She died of a brain aneurysm in 1994. One evening he started to blurt out the answers to a sports trivia game the family was playing. The difference between hitting the block hard with a straight leg and not hitting the block by letting the front leg collapse seems to be a reliable marker for separating low 90s pitchers from 100s pitchers. This allowed Dalkowski to concentrate on just throwing the ball for strikes. "[5], Dalkowski was born in New Britain, Connecticut, the son of Adele Zaleski, who worked in a ball bearing factory, and Stephen Dalkowski, a tool and die maker. In Wilson, N.C., Dalkowski threw a pitch so high and hard that it broke through the narrow . The evidential problem with making such a case is that we have no video of Dalkowskis pitching. In 195758, Dalkowski either struck out or walked almost three out of every four batters he faced. Whats possible here? He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100 mph (160 km/h). Certainly, Dalkowskis career in baseball has grown rife with legend. Dalkowski experienced problems with alcohol abuse. [9], After graduating from high school in 1957, Dalkowski signed with the Baltimore Orioles for a $4,000 signing bonus, and initially played for their class-D minor league affiliate in Kingsport, Tennessee. The Steve Dalkowski Project attempts to uncover the truth about Steve Dalkowskis pitching the whole truth, or as much of it as can be recovered. Fondy attempted three bunts, fouling one off into a television both on the mezzanine, which must have set a record for [bunting] distance, according to the Baltimore Sun. Late in the year, he was traded to the Pirates for Sam Jones, albeit in a conditional deal requiring Pittsburgh to place him on its 40-man roster and call him up to the majors. Studies of this type, as they correlate with pitching, do not yet exist. After all, Uwe Hohn in 1984 beat Petranoffs record by 5 meters, setting a distance 104.80 meters for the old javelin. In 62 innings he allowed just 22 hits and struck out 121, but he also walked 129, threw 39 wild pitches and finished 1-8 with an 8.13 ERA.. At loose ends, Dalkowski began to work the fields of Californias San Joaquin Valley in places like Lodi, Fresno, and Bakersfield. So too, with pitching, the hardest throwers will finish with their landing leg stiffer, i.e., less flexed. Players seeing Dalkowski pitch and marveling at his speed did not see him as fundamentally changing the art of pitching. He has been a recurring guest on MLB Network and a member of the BBWAA since 2011. Seriously, while I believe Steve Dalkowski could probably hit 103 mph and probably threw . "Fastest ever", said Williams. Unable to find any gainful employment, he became a migrant worker. He was demoted down one level, then another. This suggests a violent forward thrust, a sharp hitting of the block, and a very late release point (compare Chapman and Ryan above, whose arm, after the point of release, comes down over their landing leg, but not so violently as to hit it). In an extra-inning game, Dalkowski recorded 27 strikeouts (while walking 16 and throwing 283 pitches). The Greek mythology analogy is gold, sir. He was a puzzle that even some of the best teachers in baseball, such as Richards, Weaver, and Rikpen, couldnt solve. High 41F. Thats why Steve Dalkowski stays in our minds. It took off like a jet as it got near the plate, recalled Pat Gillick, who played with Dalkowski in the Orioles chain. Here are the four features: Our inspiration for these features comes from javelin throwing. The old-design javelin was retired in 1986, with a new-design javelin allowing serrated tails from 1986 to 1991, and then a still newer design in 1991 eliminating the serration, which is the current javelin. Batters will land straight on their front leg as they stride into a pitch. Good . That lasted two weeks and then he drifted the other way, he later told Jordan. He did so as well at an Orioles game in 2003, then did it again three years later, joined by Baylock. "[18], Estimates of Dalkowski's top pitching speed abound. He was likely well above 100 under game conditions, if not as high as 120, as some of the more far-fetched estimates guessed. I was 6 feet tall in eighth grade and 175 lbs In high school, I was 80 plus in freshman year and by senior year 88 plus mph, I received a baseball scholarship to Ball State University in 1976. 10. He became one of the few gringos, and the only Polish one at that, among the migrant workers. His mind had cleared enough for him to remember he had grown up Catholic. When I think about him today, I find myself wondering what could have been. Dalko is the story of the fastest pitching that baseball has ever seen, an explosive but uncontrolled arm. He's already among the all-time leaders with 215 saves and has nearly 500 strikeouts in just seven short seasons. They help break down Zeleznys throwing motion. Steve Dalkowski, who entered baseball lore as the hardest-throwing pitcher in history, with a fastball that was as uncontrollable as it was unhittable and who was considered perhaps the game's. Perhaps his caregivers would consent to have him examined under an MRI, and perhaps this could, even fifty years after his pitching career ended, still show some remarkable physical characteristics that might have helped his pitching. The third pitch hit me and knocked me out, so I dont remember much after that. The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. The focus, then, of our incremental and integrative hypothesis, in making plausible how Dalko could have reached pitch velocities of 110 mph or better, will be his pitching mechanics (timing, kinetic chain, and biomechanical factors). He was 80. The minors were already filled with stories about him. Dalkowski went on to have his best year ever. How do you rate somebody like Steve Dalkowski? He'd post BB/9IP rates of 18.7, 20.4, 16.3, 16.8, and 17.1. (See. . Steve Dalkowski was Baseball's Wild Thing Before Ricky Vaughn Showed Up. 2023 Marucci CATX (10) Review | Voodoo One Killer. I couldnt get in the sun for a while, and I never did play baseball again. Dalko explores one man's unmatched talent on the mound and the forces that kept ultimate greatness always just beyond his reach.For the first time, Dalko: The Untold Story of Baseball's Fastest Pitcher unites all of the eyewitness accounts from the coaches . A few years ago, when I was finishing my bookHigh Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Impossible Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time, I needed to assemble a list of the hardest throwers ever. Additionally, former Dodgers reliever Jonathan Broxton topped out at 102 mph. Yet the card statistics on the back reveal that the O's pitcher lost twice as many games as he won in the minors and had a 6.15 earn run average! Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. Petranoffs projected best throw of 80 meters for the current javelin is unimpressive given Zeleznys world record of almost 100 meters, but the projected distance for Petranoff of 80 meters seems entirely appropriate. How fast was he really? With his familys help, he moved into the Walnut Hill Care Center in New Britain, near where he used to play high school ball. Steve Dalkowki signed with the Baltimore Orioles during 1957, at the ripe age of 21. Instead, we therefore focus on what we regard as four crucial biomechanical features that, to the degree they are optimized, could vastly increase pitching speed. Remembering Steve Dalkowski, Perhaps the Fastest Pitcher Ever by Jay Jaffe April 27, 2020 You know the legend of Steve Dalkowski even if you don't know his name. That was because of the tremendous backspin he could put on the ball.. Both straighten out their landing legs, thereby transferring momentum from their lower body to their pitching arms. For years, the Baseball Assistance Team, which helps former players who have fallen on hard times, tried to reach out to Dalkowski. Opening day, and I go back to 1962 -- the story of Steve Dalkowski and Earl Weaver. A professional baseball player in the late 50s and early 60s, Steve Dalkowski (19392020) is widely regarded as the fastest pitcher ever to have played the game. Well, I have. We even sought to assemble a collection of still photographs in an effort to ascertain what Steve did to generate his exceptional velocity. "To understand how Dalkowski, a chunky little man with thick glasses and a perpetually dazed expression, became a legend in his own time." Pat Jordan in The Suitors of Spring (1974). Moreover, they highlight the three other biomechanical features mentioned above, leaving aside arm strength/speed, which is also evident. Shelton says that Ted Williams once faced Dalkowski and called him "fastest ever." Consider, for instance, the following video of Tom Petranoff throwing a javelin. His ball moved too much. We werent the first in this effort and, likely, will not be the last. In conclusion, we hypothesize that Steve Dalkowski optimally combined the following four crucial biomechanical features of pitching: He must have made good use of torque because it would have provided a crucial extra element in his speed. Stephen Louis Dalkowski (born June 3, 1939), nicknamed Dalko, is an American retired lefthanded pitcher. Javelin throwers call this landing on a straight leg immediately at the point of releasing the javelin hitting the block. This goes to point 3 above. Because of control problems, walking as many as he struck out, Dalkowski never made it to the majors, though he got close. Major League Baseball Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver called Steve "Dalko" Dalkowski the fastest pitcher he had ever seen with an estimated 110-mph fastball in an era without radar guns. Even . "I never want to face him again. Some suggest that he reached 108 MPH at one point in his career, but there is no official reading. I remember reading about Dalkowski when I was a kid. But was he able consistently to reach 110 mph, as more reasonable estimates suggest? Just 5-foot-11 and 175, Dalkowski had a fastball that Cal Ripken Sr., who both caught and managed him, estimated at 110 mph. Dalkowski, a football and baseball star in New Britain, was signed to a minor league contract by the Orioles in 1957. Steve Dalkowski will forever be remembered for his remarkable arm. Steve Dalkowski . and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. Brought into an April 13, 1958 exhibition against the Reds at Memorial Stadium, Dalkowski sailed his first warm-up pitch over the head of the catcher, then struck out Don Hoak, Dee Fondy, and Alex Grammas on 12 pitches. Back where he belonged.. Cal Ripken Sr. guessed that he threw up to 115 miles per hour (185km/h). * * * O ne of the first ideas the Orioles had for solving Steve Dalkowski's control problems was to pitch him until he was so tired he simply could not be wild. The outfield throw is a run, jump, and throw motion much like the javelin, and pitching is very stretch reflex orientated, a chain reaction of leg, hips, back, shoulder, elbow, and wrist snap, which is important to finding the whip motion. He handled me with tough love. He had a great arm but unfortunately he was never able to harness that great fastball of his. Best Youth Baseball Bats At that point we thought we had no hope of ever finding him again, said his sister, Pat Cain, who still lived in the familys hometown of New Britain. All major league baseball data including pitch type, velocity, batted ball location, Our content is reader-supported, which means that if you click on some of our links, we may earn a commission. No one else could claim that. Steve Dalkowski, a wild left-hander who was said to have been dubbed "the fastest pitcher in baseball history" by Ted Williams, died this week in New Britain, Connecticut. In an effort to save the prospects career, Weaver told Dalkowski to throw only two pitchesfastball and sliderand simply concentrate on getting the ball over the plate. On March 23, Dalkowski was used as a relief pitcher during a game against the New York Yankees. Its hard to find, mind you, but I found it and it was amazing how easy it was once you found the throwing zone I threw 103 mph a few times on radar, and many in 97-100 mph range, and did not realize I was throwing it until Padres scout came up with a coach after batting practice and told me. The two throws are repeated from different angles, in full speed and slow motion. The Atlanta Braves, intrigued by his ability to throw a javelin, asked him to come to a practice and pitch a baseball. He could not believe I was a professional javelin thrower. Davey Johnson, a baseball lifer who played with him in the Orioles system and who saw every flamethrower from Sandy Koufax to Aroldis Chapman, said no one ever threw harder.