It’s impossible for a pitcher to survive at the Major League level without a great fastball. Everything in his arsenal plays off that one integral pitch, and a well-located fastball is the building block for success. This is especially true for relievers, who often lean on two or three pitches out of the bullpen in abbreviated appearances.

Since his Toronto Blue Jays debut in 2015, Roberto Osuna’s bread-and-butter pitch has been the fastball. With the ability to throw in the upper-90’s and coupled with a devastating slider, the young closer never experienced much difficulty putting away Major League hitters.

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Last year, Osuna was practically unhittable for a three-month stretch from May to July. During that period, he made 33 appearances, gave up a total of three earned runs, all while striking out 39-percent of the batters he faced. That success wasn’t attributed to his fastball, but a new pitch in his rolodex: a cutter. It worked to perfection during the first half of 2017. Judging by the pitch usage, he fell in love with his cutter, but the success wasn’t everlasting.

Baseball is a game of adjustments, and as word got around about Osuna’s new weapon, opposing hitters took notice. His cutter suddenly became hittable and coupled with a decreased fastball velocity, raised some red flags about the young pitching phenom.

While Osuna enjoyed great success for a good stretch last season, he is back to basics and leaning heavily on the pitch that made him one of baseball’s most successful young closers: his fastball. He’s off to a tear to begin the 2018 campaign, except this time, he’s using his fastball more than ever, throwing it more often and harder than he has in over a year.

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There was some worry last year when the Blue Jays’ fire-baller failed to consistently touch 95 miles per-hour on the radar gun. Velocity isn’t everything, but any sudden downtick in oomph with a 22-year old reliever can be concerning. He begun the 2017 season on the disabled with a neck injury and subsequently stumbled out of the gate, blowing saves in three of his first four games, and finished the first month of 2017 with a 5.62 ERA.

One wonders whether all those innings and all those pitches may have taken their toll on Osuna. Dating back to the start of the 2015 season, Osuna has thrown the 8th most innings of all Major League relievers. Including the playoffs, he’s pitched 235.1 innings since 2015. That’s a lot of mileage on a very young arm.

If there were any doubts about Osuna this year though, he quelled those fears with a series of rock-solid outings out of the bullpen for the Blue Jays. During one of his most recent appearances on April 24th, Osuna consistently hit 97 on the radar gun and even topped out at 98 miles per hour. It was the first time he touched 98 MPH since September of 2016.

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When plotted out, Osuna’s peaks and valleys in fastball velocity over the past few years become very apparent. Through 2015 and 2016, Osuna consistently hovered around the 94-98 MPH mark averaging a 96 MPH fastball, but during the 2017 season, he lived in the 90-95 MPH range most of the time, averaging 93.3 MPH.

In 2015 and 2016, Osuna consistently hovered around the 94-98 MPH mark averaging a 96 MPH fastball, but during the 2017 season, he lived in the 90-95 MPH range most of the time, averaging 93.3 MPH.

Season Average fastball velocity Fastball usage (4-seam + 2-seam) 2015 96.1 MPH 72.10% 2016 96.1 MPH 69.50% 2017 93.3 MPH 44.90% 2018 94.9 MPH 67.80%

It’s not just the velocity renewed that’s encouraging; Osuna is back to using his fastball with regularity once again. In 2017, he threw his two- and four-seam fastballs close to 45-percent of the time, but this year that frequency has dramatically increased to nearly 68-percent of all the pitches he’s thrown.

Producing swings-and-misses is crucial for late-game relievers like Osuna. Putting a ball in play is a less-than-ideal result in a close game, which is why radar gun relievers often anchor the back-end of a bullpen. A high-velocity fastball combined with a devastating breaking pitch is a lethal combination when it comes to getting the final few outs of a ballgame.

Although he leaned heavily on his cutter last year, Osuna is at his best when he’s pumping in fastballs at 95 miles per hour or faster. He may have gotten away with his cutter for a while, but hitters eventually made an adjustment and found a way to begin putting the pitch in play.

One absolute way to make a ball unhittable? Throw it as hard as possible. That’s what Osuna’s doing again: getting back to the pitch that made him an All-Star closer in the first place.