Keeping it 100: White Sox flamethrowers recall their first triple digit pitches

Share

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It's been 43 years since Nolan Ryan became the first person recorded to throw a 100 mile per hour pitch, though Hall of Famers like Walter Johnson and Bob Feller may have done so before radar gun technology began to give accurate readings of baseballs whizzing at triple digit speeds across home plate.

Throwing 100 is more common now than ever, with 31 pitchers hitting that storied mark in 2016 (White Sox right-hander Nate Jones is among that group). But that's still only a tiny fraction of the 736 pitchers who threw at least one inning in the majors last year. 

And at the minor league level, Baseball America counted 71 pitchers who hit 100. Three of them happen to be in the White Sox clubhouse here at Camelback Ranch in Arizona. 

Michael Kopech hit 103 (in the Boston Red Sox system), Zack Burdi hit 102 (in the White Sox system) and Reynaldo Lopez hit 100 (in the Washington Nationals system) in 2016, according to Baseball America. But all three had hit 100 prior to last season. 

So what was it like the first time each reached that famed velocity? Burdi and Kopech, independently, felt the same way after hitting it. 

"It was something that I worked hard to do," Kopech said. "It was a dream I had since I was young, since I looked up to guys like Nolan Ryan. I wanted to be a hard-throwing pitcher. It was kind of relieving to be able to do whatever I worked so hard for, and now set other goals to reach."

Said Burdi: "Once I hit it, it was kind of like a weight off my shoulders because I'd been chasing it, chasing it, chasing it, and then to finally get it was just really cool and special." 

Kopech said he first threw a 100 mile per hour pitch in a game three days before his 19th birthday in 2015 while pitching for Single-A Greenville in the Red Sox organization (he reportedly threw a 105 mile per hour pitch, in 2016 too). Burdi had known he threw 100 in warmups while pitching in college for Louisville, but didn't do it in a game until his sophomore against Clemson.

Lopez had a different reaction upon learning he threw 100: "Really?"

Lopez was shut down in 2013 due to bone weakness, but in spring training in 2014 he hit 98 miles per hour in his first bullpen session. His coaches, though, didn't relay that velocity reading to him for fear he would push too hard after only throwing 5 2/3 innings the year before. 

So when, two weeks later, Lopez hit 100 miles per hour with a pitch in an extended spring training game, it came as a complete surprise. 

"I never thought about throwing that hard," Lopez said through a translator. "It was something that just happened."

Unlike Burdi and Kopech, Lopez hadn't been chasing that number -- in fact, he was initially a third baseman and was teased as a kid about having a weak arm.

"My coach, he always told me, ‘That's the hardest you can throw?'" Lopez said. "And then I was mad, and I felt bad because I wanted to throw harder. But that motivated me to start working hard and start to pay attention to all the work that I have to put in to get better."

Of course, throwing 100 miles per hour doesn't guarantee success. White Sox catcher Geovany Soto was quick to point out then-Cleveland Indians outfielder Rajai Davis' outrageously dramatic home run off Aroldis Chapman in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series -- while that fastball to Davis didn't reach 100, Chapman hits that mark so much MLB.com's Statcast has a "Chapman filter" that removes the New York Yankees closer from its leaderboard of fastest pitches thrown in 2016. 

"It looks a thousand miles an hour," Soto said. "When you're hitting, you have to stay small or not have too much movement or stay with your two-strike approach if you will early in your at-bat. He's going to provide all the power, so really just stay short to the ball and not make a lot of movement."

There's of course the trick of controlling a pitch thrown that fast, which is why some of those 71 minor leaguers to hit 100 won't reach the major leagues. Lopez said he doesn't think about throwing that fast, while Burdi and Kopech stressed that while they each can hit 100, it isn't their only mission.

"I probably look at first pitch strike ratio or just quick outs more than velocity at this point because what I'm trying to do is get deep into the game, eat innings so the relievers don't have to come in early," Kopech said. "Ultimately that's going to help me move." 

But a 100 mile per hour fastball spotted perfectly might be the game's hardest pitch to hit. And it's a seminal number in baseball lore that'll elicit oohs and aahs from anyone who sees those three digits flash across a radar gun reading. 

"It's the same reason that a 4.25 (40-yard dash) is so cool for football players," Burdi said. "It's just kind of like you peaked out at the top level, what everyone wants to do. That's not saying you're a great pitcher, but you've peaked out your body and what your body is expected to do. And that's something cool to step back and realize that you've done. I think that's probably the most special part of it for me." 

Contact Us