Joyce flashes 102 mph warmth in stellar debut

CHICAGO — During his pregame media session on Monday, Angels supervisor Phil Nevin mentioned there was a “fairly good chance” Ben Joyce would make his Major League debut later that night.

Whether Nevin might have ready the 22-year-old flamethrower for the state of affairs he was known as on for or not, the membership’s No. 9 prospect dealt with it like a 10-year veteran.

Joyce, who was known as up from Double-A Rocket City on Sunday, entered within the seventh inning with the Angels clinging to a one-run lead over the White Sox. He pitched a scoreless body — placing out a pair of batters whereas firing triple-digit fastball after triple-digit fastball — in Los Angeles’ 6-4 win at Guaranteed Rate Field.

“Ideally, yeah, you want to have a soft landing,” Nevin mentioned. “But, hey, that’s what we had available tonight. [Joyce] came in, and it didn’t look like any moment was too big for him.”

When Nevin known as Joyce’s quantity in reduction of starter Griffin Canning, the Angels led 4-3, with all 4 runs having scored within the prime of the primary inning. It can be straightforward for that kind of second to get the very best of any pitcher, not to mention a rookie who was drafted lower than a yr in the past.

Before the body, catcher Matt Thaiss met Joyce on the mound when he arrived from the bullpen, and he was impressed with the right-hander’s demeanor.

“Very cool, calm and collected,” mentioned Thaiss of Joyce, including he did the identical factor throughout Sam Bachman’s debut final week. “First big league outing. If you’re a position player, you’re kind of hidden in nine people. When you’re a pitcher, it’s all eyes on you, and you’ve got the ball.”

“It felt awesome. I felt very comfortable — a lot more comfortable than I thought I’d feel,” Joyce mentioned. “Just went out and trusted my stuff and threw strikes, and it worked out. It was an amazing feeling.”

Joyce, who was as soon as clocked at 105.5 mph with the University of Tennessee, got here out firing. He threw 10 of 12 pitches for strikes, tossing 11 sinkers and one cutter. His sinker maxed out at 102.2 mph and averaged 101.3 mph.

Other than an 89.3 mph cutter, the slowest pitch he threw was a 100.2 mph sinker.

Joyce’s first pitch to Andrew Vaughn, who hit a house run three innings earlier, was a 102 mph sinker for a strike. He painted one other sinker, at 100.3 mph, on the surface nook for strike two.

Joyce’s third pitch was a cutter in the identical spot, which Vaughn lined to left for a base hit.

Nevin joked: “Loved the first two pitches he threw. Wasn’t really excited about the cutter we went to 0-2, but I think we fixed that.”

Indeed. Next up was Gavin Sheets, and Joyce threw 4 sinkers to document his first profession strikeout. They clocked in at 101.8, 100.7, 100.2 and 101.8 mph. Romy González suffered the identical destiny, dealing with 101.5, 101.6, 101.2 and 100.6 and placing out.

“It’s very firm, and I think the more impressive thing is just how much extension he gets,” Thaiss mentioned of catching Joyce, who’s listed at 6-foot-5, 225 kilos. “He’s a big guy. We see him walking around. When he releases the ball, it feels like I could touch him out there. It’s close, so you don’t see it for very long, and it’s 103 [mph].”

Joyce topped out at 102.2 mph on his final pitch — a sinker Yasmani Grandal harmlessly flied out to left area on.

He mentioned he was excited to pitch in any second, and getting some late-game appearances with Rocket City definitely proved useful on Monday.

“That helped me kind of calm my nerves there and get recentered and go back to attacking the strike zone,” Joyce mentioned.

Joyce and Chris Devenski coated two scoreless innings, and Carlos Estévez earned the save after permitting one run within the ninth, backing Canning’s high quality begin. Canning struck out a season-high 9 batters and allowed three runs on six hits, together with a pair of solo residence runs, in six innings.

Joyce’s mother, dad, brother, girlfriend and girlfriend’s household attended Monday’s recreation. The Angels celebrated him within the clubhouse after the sport, and Joyce was awarded the lineup card — a memento he at all times dreamed of receiving.

A dialog along with his mother Monday morning additionally served as a hard-to-believe reminder. A yr in the past to the day, Joyce pitched for Tennessee within the SEC Tournament championship recreation. The Volunteers received, 8-5, although Joyce gave up two runs on a homer.

“Now I’m in the big leagues,” he mentioned. “It’s pretty crazy to think about for sure.”