Hitters know Ryan's fastball is coming -- but they still can't hit it

MINNEAPOLIS – There’s nothing quite like Joe Ryan’s fastball. Hitters know it’s coming. They know what it’s going to do. And they’re still not ready for it.

“His fastball is just electric,” said Twins catcher Alex Jackson.

Despite averaging “only” about 93-94 mph, Ryan’s four-seamer is one of the best pitches in baseball. In an era of velocity, Ryan makes hitters look foolish with his combination of location, movement, and a rare mix of a low arm slot and high riding action.

• Box score: Twins 5, Angels 3

If you’ve never seen it before, good luck. But the Ryan fastball can fool even hitters who have seen it over and over again.

“You know what he’s got,” said catcher Ryan Jeffers. “You know his stuff. It’s just hard to handle it all.”

Ryan has always had an unusual fastball, going back to his high school days. The velocity has varied, sometimes touching 97, 98 mph, sometimes dipping near 90. The movement, location, and arm slot have not.

He’s a testament to a rather unusual concept in modern baseball: velocity is not actually everything. Ryan has averaged 93.5 mph on his four-seamer this year, though he’s had games as low as 91.6 and as high as 94.6.

“If I only have [93 or 94] that day, I know that that also works,” Ryan said. “Because guys with 90 mile an hour fastballs get swing and miss too -- even 88. So I think it's more where you put it. More, are they off, out of timing, or looking for something else, maybe? Are they looking for a pitch but it’s in a different location?”