The fastest pitch in MLB history is Aroldis Chapman’s 105.8 mph fastball thrown on September 24, 2010, while pitching for the Cincinnati Reds against the San Diego Padres. That pitch holds the Guinness World Record and remains the official fastest pitch in baseball history. But Chapman’s record only tells half the story. Statcast (the modern pitch-tracking system installed in all 30 MLB ballparks) has only existed since 2008, leaving a 130-year gap during which legendary fireballers like Walter Johnson, Bob Feller, and Nolan Ryan threw pitches that may have been just as fast — or faster — without the technology to prove it.
The newest name in the velocity conversation is Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, who has rewritten the record book for starting pitchers. On June 12, 2026, against the Phillies, the 24-year-old right-hander threw a 104.5 mph fastball to strike out Kyle Schwarber (rounded to 105 mph on the broadcast), the fastest pitch ever recorded by a starting pitcher since tracking began in 2008. He broke the 103.7 mph mark he had set just days earlier, and did it while completing a 15-strikeout, one-hit shutout. What makes Misiorowski remarkable is that he reaches this velocity as a starter, not a one-inning reliever like Chapman, Joyce, and Hicks. His average fastball sits around 101 mph deep into games, making him the hardest-throwing starter the sport has ever measured.
The most famous pre-Statcast measurement is Nolan Ryan’s 100.9 mph fastball on August 20, 1974, at Anaheim Stadium against the Detroit Tigers — but that reading was taken 10 feet in front of home plate. Adjusted to the modern release-point measurement, Ryan’s pitch was approximately 108 mph at the mound. Here’s the complete breakdown of the fastest pitches in MLB history, the radar gun technology evolution that makes comparisons across eras nearly impossible, and the old-timers whose true fastball speeds we’ll never definitively know.
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The Aroldis Chapman dynasty (and why his 105+ mph club is so exclusive)
Since Statcast tracking began in 2008, only three pitchers in MLB history have officially thrown a pitch at 105 mph or faster: Aroldis Chapman (9 times), Jordan Hicks (2 times, both on the same day in 2018), and Ben Joyce (1 time, in September 2024). Chapman accounts for 75% of all 105+ mph pitches in the pitch-tracking era. He’s also thrown more than double the number of 99, 100, 101, and 102 mph pitches than any other MLB pitcher since 2008 — meaning his velocity dominance isn’t just about peak speed, it’s about sustained elite velocity over a 15+ year career. Even in 2025 at age 37 pitching for the Red Sox, Chapman regularly hits 101-102 mph in late-inning relief appearances. No other pitcher in MLB history has demonstrated this combination of peak velocity AND longevity at the top of the velocity charts.
The 2024 season marked a significant changing of the guard. Angels reliever Ben Joyce, called the “Volunteer Fireman” in his Tennessee college days, threw a 105.5 mph fastball to strike out Dodgers infielder Tommy Edman on September 3, 2024 — the fastest strikeout pitch in MLB history. Joyce’s average fastball that season was 102.1 mph, suggesting he could be the first pitcher since Chapman to make a serious run at the 105.8 mph record. Then in October 2025, Padres rookie reliever Mason Miller set a new playoff record with a 104.5 mph pitch during the NL Wild Card Series Game 2, breaking Chapman’s 103.7 mph postseason record that had stood since 2017. The velocity arms race is accelerating: in 2008, only one pitcher (Joel Zumaya) hit 104 mph all season. In 2025, multiple pitchers regularly touched 104+ mph in any given week.
How radar gun technology changed everything
The first attempt to measure a baseball pitch happened in 1912, when Walter Johnson visited the Remington Arms Company’s ballistics laboratory in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Remington used a device designed to measure bullet velocity, capturing Johnson’s pitch at 83.2 mph — measured 7.5 feet behind home plate, where the ball had already lost approximately 10 mph due to drag. Modern physicists who’ve adjusted that reading to current release-point methodology estimate Johnson’s actual fastball at the mound was approximately 93-94 mph. Hard for the era, but not “Big Train” legendary. The catch: Remington only measured a single ballistic test pitch, not in-game velocity. Johnson likely threw harder when adrenaline kicked in during real games.
Bob Feller’s 1946 measurement is even more complicated. The Cleveland Indians ace was tested by an Army Signal Corps device that timed his pitch crossing a paper screen at home plate — the result was 98.6 mph. A separate, disputed test reportedly clocked Feller at 107.6 mph, but that reading has been challenged for decades and most baseball historians consider it apocryphal. What’s not disputed: every American League hitter who faced Feller said he was the hardest thrower they’d ever seen, and his fastball had a distinctive sound when it hit the catcher’s mitt that hitters described as “different” from other pitchers.
The radar gun era officially began in the mid-1970s, when JUGS Sports adapted the police-issue radar gun for baseball. Nolan Ryan’s famous 100.9 mph reading on August 20, 1974 at Anaheim Stadium against the Detroit Tigers was the first widely-publicized in-game radar measurement. But here’s the critical detail most articles miss: Ryan’s pitch was measured 10 feet in front of home plate, not at his release point. Pitches typically lose 8-11 mph from release to plate. Adjusted to modern Statcast methodology (which measures at the release point ~50 feet from home plate), Ryan’s pitch would have registered approximately 108 mph today. This is why old-school baseball fans claim Nolan Ryan was the hardest thrower ever — and they have legitimate physics backing them up. The 1970s through 2000s used various radar gun technologies that measured at different distances, making cross-era comparisons unreliable. It wasn’t until 2008 when MLB installed PITCHf/x in all 30 ballparks (later replaced by Statcast in 2015) that consistent, release-point velocity measurement became the standard.
The legend of Steve Dalkowski (and the old-timers we’ll never know)
Steve Dalkowski never threw a pitch in an MLB regular season game. The Baltimore Orioles farmhand pitched professionally from 1957 to 1965, with a career minor league record of 46-80 and a fastball that hitters, scouts, and coaches universally agreed was the fastest they’d ever seen. Multiple sources estimated Dalkowski’s fastball at 105-110 mph at his peak, but his wildness (he walked 1,396 batters in 995 minor league innings) prevented him from ever reaching the majors. He was the inspiration for Tim Robbins’ “Nuke” LaLoosh character in the movie Bull Durham. The Orioles attempted to measure Dalkowski’s pitch in 1958 using a primitive Air Force device, but he had to throw 600 pitches in 40 minutes for the device to register a reading (93.5 mph after pitching all day, which suggests rested he was throwing 100+). We’ll never know his true speed.
The same applies to pre-radar legends. Sandy Koufax was never officially clocked but contemporaries claimed his fastball was unhittable in the early 1960s — possibly 100+ mph in his prime. Sudden Sam McDowell, J.R. Richard, and Goose Gossage all earned reputations as elite fireballers in the 1960s-1970s with no reliable measurement data. Even more recent legends like Mark Wohlers (officially clocked at 103 mph in 1995) and Joel Zumaya (officially 104.8 mph for Detroit in 2006) threw in the early radar era when measurement methodology was inconsistent. Comparing their best pitches to Chapman’s 105.8 mph in 2010 isn’t quite apples-to-apples because of how the technology evolved.
For continuously updated MLB velocity data, leaderboards, and detailed pitch-tracking analysis, Baseball Savant’s Statcast leaderboard is the official MLB source — they publish every tracked pitch since 2008 with real-time updates during the season. For historical baseball velocity research and pre-radar era context, Baseball-Reference.com remains the most comprehensive historical baseball statistics resource.
The honest reality on fastest pitch ever: Aroldis Chapman holds the official record at 105.8 mph and probably will for years to come, but the “fastest pitcher ever” question genuinely depends on how you measure it. If you trust modern Statcast measurements, it’s Chapman. If you adjust historical readings for the differing methodologies, Nolan Ryan’s August 1974 fastball might have been faster. If you trust contemporary scouting reports, Steve Dalkowski may have been the hardest thrower of all time despite never reaching the majors. What’s certain: we’re in the golden era of velocity. The average MLB fastball is now 94 mph, up from 89 mph in 2008. Pitchers like Ben Joyce, Mason Miller, Jhoan Duran, and Ryan Helsley represent a new generation of flamethrowers who’ll likely make their own runs at the 106 mph barrier in the next few seasons. Whether anyone breaks Chapman’s record before he eventually retires remains the most compelling velocity story in the sport.
— Drew, Legion Report