Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/804369
8 PLAY BALL BAY AREA NEWS GROUP venaterrificfastballhitterlike Buster Posey has a speed limit. Not long ago, the Giants catcher quizz ed a fe w older ballp la yer s about the recent invasion of flame-throwing heat monsters. "I'll ask them. 'Is it just me?' I mean, I'm about ready to move the mound back a little bit,'' Posey cracked. "You have middle-relief guys comi ng in th row ing 1 00 m ph. And I'm like, 'Wait, I thought 100 mph was supposed to be one or two guys across the league.'" It's not just you, Buster. Tri - ple-digit radar gun readings, once the sole provenance of legends like Nolan Ryan, now make for a crowded expressway. A record 31 big league pitchers touched 100 mph on the radar gun last season, according to PITCHf/x data, and two pitchers — Aroldis Chapman and Mauricio Cabrera — averaged at least 100 mph for the season. There is more heat in the fore - cast. Baseball America documented another 71 prospects clocked at 100 mph in the minor leagues last year. The fastball fixation is nothing new. You can fairly trace pitching history through baseball's rapidly spinning seams, from Walter John - son to Bob Feller to Bob Gibson to Ryan to Chapman. But it's becoming increasingly clear that baseball's best arms are cruising at dangerous speeds. Pitchers are getting injured at THE LEAGUE E Anin-cameramultipleexposureimage shows the technique of Aroldis Chapman as he winds up and throws a fastball in 2012 while playing for Cincinnati. DUSTINBRADFORD/GETTYIMAGES