MILWAUKEE -- Emmanuel Clase poses an existential threat to the data mining of baseball right now.

In an era in which every pitch must be measured and classified to provide hitters with the most detailed scouting reports, Clase is either throwing a cut fastball at speeds never before seen or he's throwing an overpowering fastball that has ridiculous movement on it.

It all depends on whom you ask.

Rangers catchers call it a cutter. So do manager Chris Woodward and MLB's Statcast system. Batters have mostly been left speechless. Brooks Baseball and Fangraphs, two other websites that mine pitch information, call them fastballs.

And Clase? He's coy.

"My fastball moves naturally," Clase said Saturday through an interpreter. "But I also throw the cutter. When I try to throw a cutter, it breaks more."

About his velocity with the pitch: Clase is averaging 98.5 mph with the cutter, which naturally bores in on left-handed hitters. He's thrown it as hard as 101 mph, right in line with a top-flight fastball. The cutter, though, isn't supposed to work like that. For most guys, the cutter usually results in a 2-3 mph drop from the fastball. Cincinnati's Michael Lorenzen, for example, has the hardest average cutter velocity in the big leagues for guys who have thrown the pitch at least 100 times this year at 93.7 mph. His fastball averages 96.8.

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According to Statcast, there have been 41 cutters thrown at 98 mph or higher over the last three seasons. Clase has thrown 34 of those 41 pitches in the week since his callup.

"It's doing more than just cutting a little bit," said catcher Jeff Mathis. "It's got slider action sometimes. At 100 mph."

Is that unusual?

"It's 2019, brother," Mathis said. "I've never seen so many guys throwing 95-plus. So I guess, I'm not surprised by anything anymore. I can't think of anyone I've ever seen that threw [the cutter] so hard. That's where we are: It doesn't even register."

Said Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who caught Clase at Frisco: "It's just not normal. He threw 12 pitches the other day, 10 of them for strikes. He's hitting everything on the black at 100. When I was down at Frisco, it was amazing that the guy who threw the hardest had the best command."

Rangers catchers say they don't have a different set of signals for fastball or cutter. They put the same signal down. So what is it?

"That thing," said Jose Trevino. "I don't know the physics of it."

Clase said when he wants to throw a cutter, he does so and the ball just moves a little more.

For most of his first week in the majors, having come straight from Double-A, he's left hitters simply shaking their heads in disbelief, too. When he gave up a walkoff homer to Milwaukee's Eric Thames on a 3-1, 97 mph cutter Friday night during his second inning of work, it was the first hit he'd allowed in 41/3 innings.

It was also on a pitch well above the strike zone, which has been a rarity for Clase in his rapid rise after being acquired from San Diego in May 2018 for reserve catcher Brett Nicholas. The Rangers saw a pitcher in the low-to-mid 90s with upside; Clase said he had already touched 100 mph. The Rangers also moved him exclusively to the bullpen and adjusted his hands on the setup. The velocity has continued to improve as he has filled out. The biggest improvement was in the command, for which Clase credits the change in his set position.

"This pitch is just different," Woodward said. "When you see batters on the other team just turn around wide-eyed, it lets you know something. He's throwing 100 mph cutters for strikes. He seems to have no fear of throwing strikes. He has unbelievable command of that one pitch."

When you start to talk about cutters, command and relievers, one name immediately comes to mind: Mariano Rivera. Rivera became the greatest reliever of all time by mastering a cutter and throwing it almost exclusively. It would also be unfair to compare Clase, with four major league outings, to Rivera. But you know what, Woodward isn't exactly dismissing the idea.

"It's hard not to say that about him," Woodward said.

For now, we'll hold off on the comparisons. Let's first figure out if he's throwing a fastball with exceptional cutting movement or if he's taken the cutter to a whole new dimension.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant