Blue Jays' Hicks throws fastest recorded pitch in team history

Aug 20 2023, 3:16 pm

Relief pitcher Jordan Hicks hasn’t even played ten games yet with the Toronto Blue Jays, but he’s already in the team’s record books.

Pitching in the eighth inning on Saturday in an eventual 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, Hicks brought out the heat harder than any Blue Jay has ever brought it before.

Firing off fourteen pitches in his appearance, two of Hicks’ pitches registered at 103 miles per hour, the fastest recorded pitch in Blue Jays history, per the team, since the Statcast era began in 2015.

Popular baseball social media account Rob “Pitching Ninja” Friedman provided several replays of Hicks’ outing.

Per Baseball Savant, Hicks has the second-fastest average fastball speed in the major leagues, at 100.7 miles per hour. He is just one of two pitchers in the majors to hit the century mark on his average fastball speed, with Minnesota’s Jhoan DurĆ”n clocking in with a 101.7 fastball on average.

Aroldis Chapman holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest pitch thrown in a major league game, with a 105.8 mile-per-hour pitch tossed for the Cincinnati Reds back in 2010.

Acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in late July for minor league pitchers Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse, Hicks has a 1-2 record with an ERA of 4.50, eight strikeouts and three saves in nine appearances for the Blue Jays this season.

Meanwhile, he had a record of 1-6 with an ERA of 3.67, 59 strikeouts and eight saves in 40 appearances for the Cardinals this season before the trade.

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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