One guy stood well above the rest when it came to pitches thrown 100 miles per hour or better in 2005. Daniel Cabrera of the Baltimore Orioles threw twice as many 100+ MPH pitches (37) as the number two guy, Philadelphia's Billy Wagner (18). Honorable mention goes to Bobby Jenks with 10 blazers in only 39 innings.
Cabrera may have beat Wagner in 2005, but he was far short of Wagner's amazing total of 159 100-MPH pitches in 2003. That's the highest total by far since Baseball Info Solutions starting tracking this stat in 2002. Wagner also has the second highest total on record of 42 in 2002.
The Major League leaders in 2005:
| Daniel Cabrera, Baltimore | 37 |
| Billy Wagner, Philadelphia | 18 |
| A.J. Burnett, Florida | 17 |
| Kyle Farnsworth, Detroit-Atlanta. | 15 (He was the 2004 leader with 30) |
| Seth McClung, Tampa Bay | 11 |
| Bobby Jenks, Chicago White Sox | 10 |
Source: The Bill James Handbook 2006
Some of the historic totals by Billy Wagner may have to be taken with a grain of salt. While radar gun readings have become more consistent in the last couple of years, it is likely his totals with Houston were inflated by a "fast" radar gun. Of his 159 100+ MPH pitches in 2003, 122 were recorded at home. Nevertheless, if you simply double his road total of 37 blazers that year, you still get an estimate of 74 pitches. That's far better than the second best total of 42 that Wagner had in 2002 (or this year's third best total of 37 by Cabrera). Of the 42 by Wagner in 2002, 26 were recorded at home and 16 were on the road. That still suggests a bit of a juiced gun at home that year, but not as dramatic as 2003.