Jacob Misiorowski fastest World Series pitch came on the very first offering of Game 1 on Friday night. The 24-year-old right-hander fired a 103.5 mph fastball to Yandy Diaz, a pitch Statcast measured as the hardest ever recorded in the World Series.
The pitch was not a strike. Diaz took it above the zone for a ball. Stadium video boards displayed 103.4 mph, a fraction slower than the official Statcast reading, but both numbers cleared the previous record.
How the record pitch unfolded
Misiorowski did not ease into the start. His first ten pitches were all fastballs, and two of them were hit for singles. By the time the first inning ended, he had thrown 13 pitches, 11 of them fastballs, and kept the game scoreless. Ten of those first-inning pitches reached 100 mph or better, and his fastball averaged 101.9 mph in the inning.
The velocity was not a surprise given his season. Misiorowski debuted in June 2025 and quickly became known for his speed. On June 27, he threw a 105.5 mph pitch, his fastest of the year and just below the regular-season record.
Previous World Series marks
Before Friday, the fastest World Series pitch belonged to Aroldis Chapman, who threw 103.2 mph in Game 2 of the 2016 World Series. That pitch ended with a Coco Crisp groundout. Misiorowski’s first-pitch record also surpassed the previous high for a World Series starting pitcher, a 101.1 mph fastball from Noah Syndergaard in Game 3 of the 2015 World Series.
A season of unprecedented velocity
Misiorowski’s 2025 season was defined by pitches at or above 100 mph. He threw 1,115 such pitches, far beyond the previous single-season high of 673 by Jordan Hicks in 2018. In the Division and League Championship Series, 96 of his 182 pitches reached 100 mph or higher.
His postseason velocity peaked on Oct. 3, when he threw a 104.8 mph called strike to Fernando Tatis Jr. That pitch set a postseason fastest-pitch mark, topping the 104.5 mph pitch Mason Miller threw in a 2024 Wild Card Series game, a called third strike to Carson Kelly.
Regular-season record remains intact
Chapman still holds the fastest regular-season pitch record at 105.8 mph, set on Sept. 24, 2010. Misiorowski’s 105.5 mph effort on June 27 came close but did not match it.
On Friday night, the World Series record changed hands. Misiorowski’s first pitch did not require a swing to make history. It was a ball, but it was also the fastest pitch the World Series has seen.
