These days, it is not uncommon for pitchers to unlock more velocity either by exercising their boudy and bulking up or by making mechanical tweaks to their deliveries. However, the specific case of New York Mets‘ ace Jacob deGrom has no precedents in the major leagues: he has added five miles per hour (mph) to his four-seam fastball since the 2016 campaign, which is utterly impressive.
For the Mets, having deGrom as their ace is a blessing. For the rest of the league, it is terrifying to know that the right-hander had a 2.05 ERA between the 2018 and 2019 seasons with more than 11 K/9 and did all that by throwing softer than he does now.