SAN DIEGO -- In the span of about a month, the Padres' bullpen has been overhauled from finesse to firepower.
The difference is stark. Before the All-Star break, no pitching staff in the Majors' threw fewer pitches above 97 mph than the Padres' 38. They've thrown over four times that many since, and they rank 10th. Among bullpens, they rank fifth.
Easy to see why: Brad Hand and Adam Cimber were traded to Cleveland during the break. Cimber's deceptiveness was always his top trait. Hand became an All-Star on the strength of his filthy slider, rather than his velocity. Additionally, Kazuhisa Makita is in the Minors, Jordan Lyles was claimed by Milwaukee and Phil Hughes has been released.
In their place, the Padres have called up three right-handers who regularly reach the high 90s: Robert Stock, Trey Wingenter and Miguel Diaz. Left-hander Jose Castillo also returned from a hamstring injury.
"It's nice when we can throw a fastball behind in the count and say, 'Here you go, hit it,'" said Padres catcher Austin Hedges. "I don't care who you are, if you know a fastball's coming it's still not easy to hit a 98 mph fastball. It definitely gives us more to work with.
"It's different. A lot of guys we've had the last couple years have been more offspeed stuff, command guys. They've got to pitch a little bit more. These guys maybe don't have to pitch as much. It's just, 'Here's my best stuff.' When you execute that around the zone, you get a lot of strikeouts."
The overall increase in velocity hasn't changed the bullpen's effectiveness. During the first half of the season, it ranked first in the National League in fWAR. It ranks first in the second half, too.
The second-half success of the bullpen is no small accomplishment, given the absence of Hand and Cimber, two of their top arms. Stock (2.49 ERA), Wingenter (1.69) and Castillo (3.47) have filled in nicely.

"Margins are usually bigger at that velocity," said Padres manager Andy Green. "But unique looks usually have margin for error, too. The game is getting more and more guys who throw in the upper 90s. You still have to be able to pitch."
To that point, Green cited Stock, who was almost entirely fastball-dependent during Spring Training. He's developed a serious putaway slider and a changeup to go along with it.
Still, it all comes back to the fastball with Stock. He's seen a major velocity increase in the last two seasons as he overhauled his training regimen. He had never hit 98 mph until last year. This year, he's the only Padres pitcher to reach 100.

If there's anyone who understands the way a high-octane fastball can change a pitcher, it's Stock, who sat in the low-to-mid 90s and was pitching in independent ball only a couple seasons ago.
"Knowing that I'm throwing fast, gives me the confidence that I don't have to nibble as much," Stock said. "Obviously I don't have the greatest command. But if I don't have to hit a fine spot, I can just aim middle. It's probably not going to go there, but hopefully it's in the strike zone somewhere that works."
Stock clearly doesn't have the command of, say, Craig Stammen, the Padres' most pinpoint pitcher, who is putting forth arguably the best season of his 10-year career with a fastball that averages 91 mph.

"They don't have to command the ball nearly as well as someone who throws the ball in the low 90s," Stammen said. "When the combination of those two come together, that's when you have a really special player. That's where we're trying to get these guys to -- not just to throw hard, but to throw where they want it to go."
In the first half, the average Padres fastball was 90.8 mph. It's been 93 since -- the biggest jump in the Majors.
But velocity is trending upward across baseball. Hedges, for one, has enjoyed that revolution from behind the plate -- but not so much at the plate.
"It's terrifying to think," Hedges said. "Maybe in the next five years everybody in the whole world will be throwing 100."