Former Tennessee Vols baseball fan favorite gets called up to MLB
Ben Joyce was a name that everyone in college baseball knew. He was a reliever for the Tennessee Vols that consistently hit triple digits with his fastball. His physical upside was the main reason that the Los Angeles Angels selected him in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Normally, you don't see a […]
Ben Joyce was a name that everyone in college baseball knew. He was a reliever for the Tennessee Vols that consistently hit triple digits with his fastball. His physical upside was the main reason that the Los Angeles Angels selected him in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Normally, you don't see a player getting called up to the majors just a year later, but Joyce's arm is no normal arm.
Joyce is reportedly getting the call up from the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas to the Angels. He'll join the LA bullpen immediately as a flamethrower.
After averaging 101 mph with his fastball at Tennessee, he hovered around 100 mph with Rocket City. Though the heater can get hit because it straightens out at times, it can feature some armside run, and when he works up in the zone, it’s tough to square up coming from a lower arm slot. He can miss bats regularly with his slider, which averaged around 83 mph, and the Angels are working to get him to throw his breaking ball harder and close the velocity gap between it and his heater. Joyce has mixed in a changeup in the past with some effectiveness, but it’s a distant (and not often used) third offering. —
It'll be interesting to see how Joyce blossoms. His secondary pitches are not polished, but they are improving. His control has seen development over the past few months as well. Keep an eye on him in LA going forward, Vols fans.
