When you think of the best pitches in baseball this season, your mind probably goes right to Jacob Misiorowski’s blazing fastball, Mason Miller’s lethal slider or Shohei Ohtani’s devastating sweeper.
But no, it belongs to Marlins righty Anthony Bender and his bender … er, sweeper … according to Statcast’s run value per 100 pitches. Score one for nominative determinism!
The 31-year-old’s breaking ball has been worth four runs per 100 pitches, tops in MLB and just ahead of Tanner Scott’s slider (3.9), Ohtani’s sweeper (3.9) and Drew Rasmussen’s sinker (3.7). Misiorowski’s slider -- not four-seamer -- is in eighth with 3.2, and Miller’s slider is surprisingly in 35th at 2.6.
Bender’s sweeper, which he throws 49% of the time, gets a wicked 19.8 inches of glove-side break -- 5.9 inches better than league average. It’s a career-best mark for the veteran reliever, jumping a whole three inches from his previous high of 16.8 in 2025, when the offering was worth three runs per 100 pitches.
His entire arsenal makes for an uncomfortable at-bat. Bender pitches from a 16-degree arm angle with a 6-foot-4 frame, while he also boasts a sinker that averages 96.4 mph. His 27.4% strikeout rate is in the 83rd percentile across MLB, while he also is avoiding hard contact with a 78th percentile hard-hit rate (batted ball at 95 mph or harder).
Bender is having another productive year for the Fish, posting a 3.04 ERA in 27 appearances. A handful of bumpy outings at the season’s outset have inflated that number a bit. The former 20th-round pick of the Royals has allowed just two earned runs since April 20.
The nickname “The Airbender” is held by Mets closer Devin Williams and his signature changeup, but Anthony Bender and his sweeper are clearly deserving of some other supernatural moniker.