Tampa Bay Rays: Prospect Ryne Stanek Owns a Blistering Fastball

Prospect Ryne Stanek of the Tampa Bay Rays can hit 103 mph with his heater.

As Bill Chastain of MLB.com writes, Tampa Bay Rays prospect Ryne Stanek has quite the fastball. According to Chastain, teammate Jaime Schultz clocked the pitcher's velocity when playing for Triple-A Durham last summer. The results frequently reached blistering speeds.

During his outings, Stanek would often crack 100 miles per hour with his heater. Schultz even reported Stanek hitting 103 a few times, a figure that comes in as one of the fastest pitches in Major League Baseball.

When it comes to top speeds, Aroldis Chapman took home the title for fastest average fastball last season. According to PITCHf/x, he averaged 100.4 miles per hour on his heater, making it an especially lethal pitch. Not too far behind was Mauricio Cabrera of the Atlanta Braves, coming in two-fifths of a mile per hour behind the Cuban. Coincidentally, these were the only two MLB pitchers to reach 103 mph at least once last year.

Once a fastball gets going that fast, it is hard for any batter to catch up and hit it. The reaction time left is so short that Matt Duffy told Chastain, pitches that fast change how one must approach each at-bat. As he put it, "if you're not anticipating swinging, you're going to be too late."

Whether or not Stanek's heater will convert to big-league success still remains to be seen. MLB.com pegs him as the Tampa Bay Rays' 13th best prospect, praising his fastball but noting that "his control and command are lacking." According to the report, his transition from the starting rotation to the bullpen has helped with this, but it still remains a bit of an issue.

Even despite his speedy heater, Stanek struggled to prevent runs in the minors. Through 24 innings in Triple-A last year, he allowed 16 earned runs on 22 hits and 13 walks. All this came with just 22 strikeouts.

This brings us back to an important point: there is more to being a pitcher than having an A-grade fastball. It is necessary to deceive batters and keep them on their toes in order to have any kind of prolonged success. Sure, it may be hard to hit a 103-mph fastball, but batters can just sit and wait for a breaking pitch. Should Stanek focus more on his fastball, then hitters will know what to expect and can prepare themselves a bit more.

This is not to say that the righty will not be a solid contributor to the Tampa Bay Rays, but rather an acknowledgment of needed improvements. Should he cut back on the number of walks he issues and improve some of his secondary pitches, achieving greatness in the MLB would be very doable for the pitcher.