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21-year-old St. Louis Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks can throw fast. Like really fast. In the 2017 Arizona Fall League Hicks was clocked at 102.6 mph. During his Major League Baseball debut his average fastball velocity for the day was 100.4 miles per hour. But all of that was nothing compared to what Hicks did to poor Odubel Herrera of the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
During Herrera’s at-bat against Hicks, he saw five straight pitches that registered at 104.2 mph, 105 mph, 104.3 mph, 105 mph, and 103.7 mph — the five fastest pitches of the year. Oh, just to make them even more unhittable, all five pitches also had RIDICULOUS movement.
Needless to say, Herrera struck out. On the plus side for him, the pitch he struck out on ricocheted off the dirt so violently that he was able to reach first base.
Jordan Hicks' five pitches to Herrera according to Statcast:
104.2 mph sinker
105 mph sinker
104.3 mph sinker
105 mph sinker
103.7 mph sinker#stlcards #cardinals #MLB— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) May 20, 2018
Jordan Hicks goes 105, 104, 105 and 104 mph. 🔥🔥🔥🔥
And, Odubel gets the well-deserved participation trophy, getting 1b on the dropped 3rd. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/IMQrTyDuHy
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 20, 2018
Jordan Hicks, 105mph Fastball movement. 😂😳🔥 pic.twitter.com/jdu1hbO7N2
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 20, 2018
That’s not even remotely fair.
So far in his rookie season, which comes after not even pitching a single inning in either Double-A or Triple-A, Hicks has a 2.05 ERA in 22 innings. This despite walking 16 batters with, somehow, only nine strikeouts.
Of the 50 fastest pitches thrown in Major League Baseball this year, according to StatCast, Hicks owns 31 of them, all at 101.3 mph or faster. The other 19 were thrown by Aroldis Chapman of the Yankees (18) and Tayron Guerrero of the Marlins (1).