{"id":204,"date":"2010-09-02T12:21:32","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T16:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=204"},"modified":"2024-07-09T10:59:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T14:59:30","slug":"did-chapman-really-throw-a-ball-105mph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=204","title":{"rendered":"Did Chapman really throw a ball 105mph?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chapman<\/a>

Chapman is amazing. Photo via wiki\/flickr SD Dirk<\/p><\/div>\n

(Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on 9\/2\/2010, edited several times since, including links to the 105.1 pitch later in 2010 and him hitting 105.1 again in 2016, plus 2020 and 2022 readings and addition of additional links).<\/p>\n

If you believe twitter and these published reports<\/a>, Cincinnati’s Cuban prospect Aroldis Chapman<\/strong> “sat” at 103 and hit 105mph in his final AAA appearance before getting called up for the 9\/1\/2010 roster expansion.\u00a0 I had a hard time believing it; the picture in the Yahoo looks doctored frankly, and stadium guns are notoriously “jacked up” to get the crowds excited and to spark interest in hard throwers.<\/p>\n

There are two kinds<\/a> of radar guns used by stadiums and scouts today.\u00a0 A “fast” gun measures the speed of the pitch as it leaves the hand of the hurler while a “slow” gun measures its speed by the time the pitch crosses the plate.\u00a0 For obvious reasons you’ll take the “fast” reading if you’re trying to hype the player, and you take the “slow” reading if you’re trying to evaluate the pitcher.\u00a0 Oh, and you take readings over and again, compare first inning to last inning, etc.\u00a0 My thoughts were that Chapman was on a fast gun that was over-exaggerated to add a couple MPHs (case in point; Jordan Zimmermann<\/strong>‘s radar readings<\/a> on the telecast two nights ago put him at 96mph when his pitch f\/x maximum was 94).\u00a0 Click here for an excellent overview of the way we’ve measured velocity<\/a> has changed over the years.<\/p>\n

Now, that being said, check out the Pitch F\/X data from Chapman’s first appearance<\/a> in the majors on 8\/31\/2010, and his second appearance<\/a> on 9\/1\/10. In his major league debut he threw 6 fastballs with an average of 100.65 and a max of 102.7mph.\u00a0 This in and among itself would have been amazing and would have tied the fastest ever recorded pitch f\/x data (that of Joel Zumaya<\/strong> hitting 102.7 in a game in June 2009<\/a>)<\/p>\n

However, look at the data from 9\/1\/10. He threw 7 fastballs that AVERAGED 102.11 mph with a peak of 103.9mph.\u00a0 103.9!!<\/p>\n

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Before talking about new records, lets talk about history.<\/p>\n

Now, I know there’s a ton of links out there talking about what the fastest ever reported pitch is on record (see links here<\/a> or here at HardBalltimes <\/a>or this google cache’d document<\/a> as well as wikipedia or Guinness Book of World records links).<\/p>\n