Mason Miller’s fastball has averaged 101.4 MPH this season, tops in the game. His fastest pitch, thrown on July 28 to the Rockies Hunter Goodman, registered an even 104 MPH.1 It missed low and away, by a lot, but don’t let one yanked heater get in the way of our fun.
Last Tuesday night, Miller decided to mix it up: He threw a 98 MPH changeup. I had never seen anything like that before.
“First time for me, too,” says Doug Bochtler, who threw the majority of his 260 innings of relief with the Padres from 1995-1997. Changeups themselves are a rarity for Miller, representing only 2.4% of his 2026 offerings. Meanwhile, his slider is arguably the nastiest pitch in the game. And we’ve already mentioned the heater.
That change that Miller threw would have been a relatively insignificant data point — only the 22nd of its kind in a season, so far, of almost 1,000 total pitches for the closer — had Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz not smoked it 379 feet into the right field bleachers. Instead, the “off-speed” offering resulted in the game’s only run.
Seeking perspective or maybe just a sanity check, I reached out to Bochtler, the Padres bullpen coach from 2016-2019, for his insights.
“Well, did you check spin rate on it?” he asks. That wasn’t the reaction I expected. I told him as much. “It’s a different time, man.”
Now the pitching coach for the Toledo Mud Hens, Detroit’s Triple-A team, Bochtler took a minute to review video and data of Miller’s ill-fated cambio. He uses spin rate, the baseball’s revolutions per minute when it leaves the pitcher’s hand, to compare the pitch in question to the confirmed 101 MPH fastball that preceded it. Indeed, the fastball measured 2,400 RPM; the other pitch: 1,854. Changeup confirmed.
“The thing is, where he threw it… is the only reason [Cruz] had a chance of hitting it.” Miller admitted to the media after the game that he was trying to get the pitch away from Cruz but missed in.
Bochtler continues his analysis: “But it didn’t have the carry either, right? Like, I mean, you’re talking 11 inches difference in vert.” An old school pitcher has evolved with the times. The “vert” is a reference to the induced vertical movement of the pitch, or the pitch’s ability to maintain its vertical position through the zone. A rising fastball will have a high vert, and a changeup will have a vert closer to zero. (In the at-bat against Cruz, Miller’s fastball had a vert of 14.0 inches, and the change measured 3.6 inches.)
Unlike his fastballs that have the giddyup to beat the hitter, even on a poorly located four-seamer, Miller’s changeup — lacking the differential in velocity to get a batter out in front — has less of a margin for error.
“So as his bat’s dropping into the zone,” Bochtler concludes while watching Cruz’s swing, “his barrel’s dropping there and he’s going to catch that [changeup] out front.”
Mason Miller’s ninth innings have made for exciting baseball all season long. Last Tuesday represented his fourth appearance in five days, and followed a 30-pitch outing the night before. I still wonder if heavier-than-usual use influenced his pitch selection in the moment. As the Wild Card race nears the home stretch, it’ll be fun to see if The Reaper dares to let go of a changeup any time soon. My guess is we won’t see another.
Royal with Cheese
I wrote about converted outfielder Anthony Gose five years ago after he appeared in a game as a pitcher — more than five years after he took his final at-bat as a position player. (He went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts on May 11, 2016, against Max Scherzer, who, in a testament to his longevity, threw seven innings of one-hit ball against the Mariners yesterday! I’m sure Gose isn’t the only player who quit hitting after facing Mad Max at some point along the way.) The aforementioned article sure feels old; at the time, Gose was pitching for the Indians, and Ohtani is referenced as an MVP candidate for the Angels.
On Saturday, Gose came out of the pen for the Royals, retired all five batters he faced, and picked up the win. He’s 36. He’s throwing 97. He missed the entire 2023 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2022. After returning from injury, the lefty was designated for assignment three times by Cleveland in 2024, making only three, well, DFA-worthy appearances with the team.
Last year, Gose pitched in Triple-A for the Mets and Diamondbacks in addition to a winter ball stint in Mexico before making his way back to the Show this year with Kansas City.
Next weekend, the Royals host Toronto. Gose might get another crack at Scherzer.
Only Jacob Misiorowski and Ben Joyce have thrown faster this season.