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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

Astros closer Ryan Pressly ended the game with an absolutely unfair curveball to Connor Wong

We’ve grown so accustomed to seeing big-league closers shut down games with triple-digit fastballs (and sinkers!) that you really have to appreciate what Astros reliever Ryan Pressly has done this season.

Pressly has a fastball that typically tops out at a 95 or 96 mph, but he makes up for that just-above-MLB-average velo with the highest spin rates any batter will face this season. Even with MLB cracking down on sticky substances, Pressly’s spin rate is something else — 100th percentile in curveball spin and 97th percentile in fastball spin.

So, no matter what pitch a batter is seeing from Pressly, it’s going to be deceptive. And that curveball, specifically, becomes borderline impossible to hit.

Just look at how the Red Sox’s Connor Wong handled it during Wednesday’s game at Fenway Park.

With two outs and a runner on in the ninth inning, Pressly closed out the game by drawing a wild swing from Wong on a curveball that Statcast measured at 3,496 RPM. Out of the top 30 spin rates we’ve seen in baseball this season, Pressly accounts for all but four of them.

It’s just a cruel pitch to have to face with two strikes.

MLB fans were also impressed with the curveball — you can’t blame them either. It was that good.

This was how Twitter reacted

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