Ed. Note: a modified version of this article was originally published on June 24, 2025.

The number of fastballs thrown across baseball seemingly decreases each season. So far this season, 54.9% of pitches thrown have been fastballs. If this holds, it will be the lowest percentage of fastballs since pitch tracking was introduced. It’s probably safe to assume it’s the lowest percentage in the history of the sport, but I won’t say that definitively because weird stuff went on back in the 1920s.

Despite the decline in fastball usage, the pitch is still king. Many of the best pitchers in the game have dominant fastballs: Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, and Garrett Crochet, to name a few.

What makes a fastball great? Velocity, release, and shape are a few factors outside of the obvious command. Th

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