It’s honestly a minor miracle that players are capable of getting hits off Twins closer Jhoan Duran. When he’s on his game, there aren’t many pitchers with filthier stuff in all of baseball.
The Washington Nationals learned that the hard way on Sunday.
Duran needed just 11 pitches to preserve the Twins’ 3-1 win at Target Field, and every single one of those pitches looked like something out of a video game. He got the second out of the inning by throwing a 102 mph fastball (with 15 inches of break!) past a swinging Luis Garcia. And then a first-pitch curveball the following at-bat to Keibert Ruiz had the Nationals catcher so rattled, that he took an automatic strike before he could see a second pitch.
Jhoan Duran, 102mph Fastball and Unfair Back Foot 92mph Curveball. 😲 pic.twitter.com/SKKrp8qzFx
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 23, 2023
Apple AirPods Pro are 20% off
I wish we had video of the automatic strike, but that’s just a devastating array of pitches that any hitter has to deal with while facing Duran. Curveballs are not supposed to move like that with that kind of velocity.
You can almost forgive Ruiz for needing a few extra seconds to collect himself after he nearly fell over on a wild swing. After all, that pitch looked over the plate before breaking sharply towards his feet. That bordered on humiliation — two strikes for one pitch. Ruiz would ground out to end the game.
Fans were also in awe with Duran’s pitches on Sunday.
This was how Twitter reacted
This dude is different https://t.co/X4aOUOSgdm
— Alex Blickle (@AlexBlickle1) April 23, 2023
Imagine being able to throw a curveball as fast as a league average fastball 😱 https://t.co/e9CFp3PW4n
— Trey (@Trey3O) April 23, 2023
If Babe Ruth existed today and saw these pitches he would vanish into dust. https://t.co/JvxrfPGCfG
— hatin' manning (@broeyramone) April 23, 2023
So you wanna be a big league hitter https://t.co/Bzb4xvF4o1
— Jonny's Lasagna ⚾️ (@JLasagna43) April 23, 2023
Absolutely disgusting 🥵 https://t.co/0LZzUT9y4h
— Megan (Dahl) Knops (@mntwinsfan07) April 23, 2023
This doesn’t even look real. https://t.co/CzCLK0WkP2
— Jerry Blevins (@jerryblevins) April 23, 2023
Imagine facing a 92 MPH curveball. https://t.co/Ns6SajCRZk
— Cory Böeckman (@C_Boeckman) April 23, 2023
how are you supposed to gameplan for this lol https://t.co/w9LVi0Nfk6
— real (@jawnwick69) April 23, 2023
Most 102+ MPH pitches this year (with rounding):
Jordan Hicks, 30
Jhoan Duran, 26
Aroldis Chapman, 15
(All others combined, 29) https://t.co/7LYqGnkN10— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 23, 2023
He’s very good.
