Tag: Jhoan Duran

Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran has a new entrance as epic as his fastball

When Target Field is engulfed in flames, it’s Jhoan Duran time.

First there was the New York Mets, Edwin Diaz and Narcos. Then came the Baltimore Orioles with Felix Bautista and Omar’s whistle from The Wire.

Now the Minnesota Twins and Jhoan Duran are getting in on the intimidating fun of welcoming their closer to the mound with a goosebump-inducing entrance.

But considering this is Duran we’re talking about — one of the hardest-throwing pitchers the sport has ever seen — the Twins had to find a way to incorporate his flamethrower status. They did not disappoint.

Now, whenever Minnesota calls on its closer, Target Field turns into an inferno worthy of the pitcher’s arsenal.

The Twins entered Saturday with a 74-67 record and a 6.5-game lead in the American League Central. Which means baring a disastrous collapse, we’ll have a chance to see Duran’s entrance during the playoffs. And what a moment that will be.

MLB fans were in awe watching Twins closer Jhoan Duran torment the Giants with 104-plus mph pitches

Even his SPLITTER hit 100 mph …

With the Giants down six runs in the ninth inning, they probably didn’t expect to see flame-throwing closer Jhoan Duran take the mound for the Twins. But Twins manager Rocco Baldelli opted to give Duran some work ahead of the off day.

That was bad news for the Giants because Duran was on another level on Wednesday.

Coming in with one out in the ninth inning, Duran — who was pitching for the first time since Saturday — set the tone right away with a 100 mph splitter that sharply dropped 28 inches against a swinging Blake Sabol. Like, pitches simply are not supposed to move like that.

Duran wasn’t done either.

Despite giving up a double to Wilmer Flores, Duran hit 103 mph seven times in the inning, including fastballs of 104.6 (shown 105 on the broadcast), 104.4 and 104 mph.

I don’t know what hitters are supposed to do with any of that except sit on a curveball and hope he actually throws one. No wonder MLB fans were impressed. That first-pitch splitter was especially unfair.

Twins closer Jhoan Duran threw a 92 mph curveball that was so filthy, it forced Keibert Ruiz into clock violation

He got TWO strikes with one pitch.

It’s honestly a minor miracle that players are capable of getting hits off Twins closer Jhoan Duran. When he’s on his game, there aren’t many pitchers with filthier stuff in all of baseball.

The Washington Nationals learned that the hard way on Sunday.

Duran needed just 11 pitches to preserve the Twins’ 3-1 win at Target Field, and every single one of those pitches looked like something out of a video game. He got the second out of the inning by throwing a 102 mph fastball (with 15 inches of break!) past a swinging Luis Garcia. And then a first-pitch curveball the following at-bat to Keibert Ruiz had the Nationals catcher so rattled, that he took an automatic strike before he could see a second pitch.

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I wish we had video of the automatic strike, but that’s just a devastating array of pitches that any hitter has to deal with while facing Duran. Curveballs are not supposed to move like that with that kind of velocity.

You can almost forgive Ruiz for needing a few extra seconds to collect himself after he nearly fell over on a wild swing. After all, that pitch looked over the plate before breaking sharply towards his feet. That bordered on humiliation — two strikes for one pitch. Ruiz would ground out to end the game.

Fans were also in awe with Duran’s pitches on Sunday.

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Twins reliever Jhoan Duran just broke the record for fastest pitch in team history — again — with this ridiculous fastball

Jhoan Duran is impossible with these pitches.

There’s throwing gas out there on the diamond and then there’s whatever Jhoan Duran is doing.

This dude is completely ridiculous. He might be the most fascinating pitcher in baseball at this point. He’s out here throwing Splinkers at 100 miles per hour and Curveballs at 90. These are things that just should not be possible.

If he’s doing that with movement pitches, then you’d best believe fast balls are absolutely no problem for this dude. He’s out here throwing joints that are shattering team records over and over and over again.

He tossed a 104 mph fastball on Tuesday night that shattered his own previously established records at 103.1 and 103.3 set back in May. Good luck hitting this bad boy.

This pitch technically came in at 103.8, but when you round up you get to 104. This dude is breaking the game.

At this point, it feels like a foregone conclusion that he’ll tie Aroldis Chapman’s record for fastest pitch in MLB history at 105 mph. We’ll see. In the meantime, though, the Twins better be ready to clear out that record book.

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Twins reliever Jhoan Duran threw the filthiest 100 MPH ‘splinker’ with movement and everyone was in awe

This was a historically fast offspeed pitch!

Jhoan Duran has lit the MLB world on fire.

The Minnesota Twins reliever has had an unbelievable rookie year with 73 strikeouts in 56.2 innings and a 1.91 ERA. He throws absurdly hard, too.

That now includes a 100 MPH pitch that’s supposed to be an offspeed throw, but was, in fact, very much on speed (sorry, not sorry).

It was an offering from Monday night known as a “splinker” — a split-fingered sinker that darted past the bat of Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo. Per MLB.com, that’s the first offspeed pitch ever tracked in the Statcast era at triple digits.

You’ve got to see this thing:

This incredible slo-mo footage shows how a 100 mph pitch violently warps a catcher’s mitt

Won’t someone think of the poor leather glove?

Being able to pitch a baseball 100-plus miles per hour is an insane gift. To create that much velocity and sheer torque out of a small object is something only a few people can do. If you’re an MLB pitcher with such a talent, you’ll bring an element almost everyone will gawk at when they get the chance.

To likely try and have everyone appreciate the 100 mile-per-hour pitch, even more, the Yankees’ broadcast had an excellent idea: They isolated a 100 mph pitch under a slo-mo cam.

The visual effects and results on the receiving catcher’s mitt aren’t surprising but certainly no less striking. In essence, it’s pitching gold:

I could watch that ball positively level the glove’s leather over and over. It’s mesmerizing.

With this baseball leather destruction in mind, it’s worth noting who’s been dealing out the most heat. As pitching arms get faster and faster, the above glove won’t be alone:

If I’m doing my math right, with 95 set to be the average fastball by the end of the year, then 100 could be the norm near 2030 or so. That is just bonkers to consider.

The next triple-digit wave might already be here, too. Earlier this season, the Reds’ Hunter Greene broke an MLB record for 100+ mile-per-hour pitches in a game with 39 (!). Thanks to his rocket arm, he lived up to every bit of the hype. Meanwhile, the Twins’ Jhoan Duran is the current owner of this year’s fastest pitch when he tossed 103.3 mile-per-hour rocket in mid-May.

Either catchers are about to get denser gloves, or a rise of 100 mile-per-hour pitches will create a lot more equipment damage in the coming years.

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