Six-time All-Star has candid response to being on the wrong end of former Vols flamethrower Ben Joyce's MLB career first

The rise of Ben Joyce this summer has been meteoric.  After taking some lumps during his rookie season in 2023, the former Tennessee Vols hurler has come back with a force in 2024 .

In fact, Joyce has been so dominant that even some of the best hitters in baseball are just shaking their head and chuckling at his stuff right now.  That's exactly what happened on Saturday night with Mets designated hitter J.D. Martinez.

Joyce slammed the door on the Angels' 5-4 win over the New York Mets with a fastball at 104.7 miles per hour, the fastest pitch in Major League Baseball this year.  He notched his first career MLB save in the process.  It left Martinez in disbelief as he walked towards the dugout.

"It was hard.  I've never seen a fastball like that, for me," Martinez said about facing Joyce's fastball.  "Personally, that's the fastest fastball I've ever faced.

"He threw it.  I laughed after he struck me out.  I was kind of smiling.  I was like, 'whoa'. I had to look up at the radar.  I was like, that was different.  Kudos to him.  He throws hard and goes right at you.  He's not sitting there flipping stuff.  He's power-power.  Let's go.  I can put some respect on him because of that."

Joyce's 104.7 mph fastball to strikeout Martinez topped his 104.5 mph fastball from last month as the fastest pitch in Major League Baseball in 2024.  ESPN also noted that it's the fastest pitch to strike out a batter in the pitch tracking era going back to 2008.

Joyce has also mixed in a split-finger fastball/sinker hybrid that darts away from hitters around 97 miles per hour to go with a hard-cutting slider.  When you're looking for 105 miles per hour coming at you, good luck trying to switch off to those.

Joyce hasn't allowed an earned run in 18 straight appearances since allowing 3 runs on June 11 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He's lowered his ERA to 1.82 with a 1.09 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched).  By way of reference, he posted a 5.40 ERA and 1.80 WHIP in 2023.

Joyce is very much coming into his own as one of the best young relievers in all of baseball.  And it's clear he's earning the respect of some of the best hitters in the game in the process.

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