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Trevor Rosenthal didn't just hit 100 miles per hour in his mop-up relief stint following the St. Louis Cardinals' nine-run outburst against the Nationals Friday—he sat at 100. For his next trick, the six-two right-hander hit 101, completing a scoreless inning with the following series of digits, as immortalized in the Viva El Birdos gamethread: 100, 99, 100, 81, 100, 101, 81, 101, 89.
Italics mine (they're an artistic decision. They represent whoosh-ness.) Prior to Friday's action, Magical Trevor's average fastball was clocked by PitchF/X at 97.5—compared to an 88.8 mph cutter and an 80.6 mph curveball. Some perspective: Kyle Lohse's average fastball this year has hit 89.5.
At 22, and with fewer than 150 innings above the low minors, Rosenthal's in an odd place—he's a borderline-high-leverage reliever with an outstanding fastball who still picks up mop-up innings and is, in the long-term, a starter. But none of that's important right now; we can wait on arguing about his role until the offseason. For now, he's just the guy who comes into a game with a seven-run lead and tries to break Tony Cruz's hand.