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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

Yordan Álvarez made some astonishing MLB history with his double off Ben Joyce’s 103.9 mph fastball

There’s a simple reason for why we’ve seen such an emphasis on velocity with MLB pitchers in recent years:

It’s extremely difficult to hit triple-digit velocity.

But Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez is just that good, and he made some Statcast history in the process on Saturday.

Ben Joyce — who wowed fans and scouts with his 105-plus mph heat at Tennessee — was tasked with facing Álvarez in the Angels’ game against Houston. Álvarez took the first pitch at 102 mph for a ball, and that was all he needed to time up the flame-throwing righty.

On the second pitch, Álvarez got the barrel through the zone and slapped a double down the left-field line off a 103.9 mph fastball (with 106.3 mph exit velocity).

And in doing so, he became the first MLB player in the Statcast era to get an extra-base hit off a pitch exceeding 103 mph in the regular season. The only other time an extra-base hit happened off that kind of heat was in the postseason when Carlos Ruiz hit a double off Aroldis Chapman in 2010.

That’s just more proof as to how good MLB players are at baseball. It shouldn’t even be possible to catch up with that velocity.

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