Abnormal Ben Joyce dazzling in return from Tommy John

Ben Joyce has been attending Tennessee baseball games since he was seven years old.

The lifelong Vol fan took in UT baseball a little bit different this past weekend, however, when the program kicked off year five of the Tony Vitello era.

Working back from Tommy John surgery, Joyce made his Tennessee debut on Sunday. The Knoxville native threw two pitches against Georgia Southern to pick up the third out of the seventh inning.

His first pitch was a 100 mph fastball that electrified the crowd. His second pitch resulted in a swinging bunt.

“Getting out here with the crowd and the guys has been a really cool experience, a dream come true for me,” Joyce told the media Wednesday. “You can throw as many pens as you want, but it’s not the same as being in actual games or being out there and kind of getting in-game experiences is really important. It’s been really cool to do it with the crowd here and everything.”

Electrifying the crowd is the name of Joyce’s game. The hard-throwing righty routinely touches double-digits.

On Wednesday, in his second appearance of the season, Joyce pitched a scoreless fifth inning against UNC Asheville. The radar gun on the stadium’s videoboard routinely lit up with speeds of 100, 101, 102 and even 103.

In fact, one of Joyce’s pitches was clocked at 104 mph on Tennessee’s official radar gun right behind home plate.

“There’s no action like gameday action, but you see it in guy’s eyes all the time,” Tony Vitello explained. “They like being out there and competing and you actually get a better version of themselves than you do in practice. Ben has a little bit of that too. He’s just got to figure out how does he tame that wild horse, that wild stallion he’s got with that arm and as he continually does it, it’s going to be fun to watch.

“There’s not going to be one day where it’s just ‘bam,’ he knows exactly where to spot it against righties and lefties, but he does throw strikes because he has tremendous stuff. It’s going to be fun to be a part of his career and him figuring that stuff out.”

It’s not just the fastball with Joyce. His slider and changeup is equally effective and dazzling as his fastball.

Joyce dropped in a beautiful 90 mph changeup against UNC Asheville. With that type of off-speed pitch, in addition to a slider that has a lot of break to it, Joyce is trending towards being one of the most dominating pitchers in college baseball.

“(The slider has) been equally effective in scrimmages,” Vitello said. “But when the changeup is on it’s almost unfair… Once hitters start thinking about those two off-speed pitches, it’s going to be very difficult to sellout for that fastball.”

The last pitcher under Vitello to throw that hard of a changeup in addition to a 100 mph fastball? Former Vol lefty Garrett Crochet, who went on to be the No. 11 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.

“I don’t know that there’s more than those two guys off the top of my head, but it’s abnormal,” Vitello said. “(Joyce is) an abnormal kid, has an abnormal work ethic and fortunately he’s been blessed with abnormal stuff, too.”

“The changeup is a big thing I’ve been working on with Coach Anderson,” Joyce added. “It’s a pitch we’ve tried to develop coming back Tommy John rehab, so I think I take more pride in the changeup.”

Joyce suffered his injury back in October of 2020 and had surgery later that month.

The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder has always been a specimen. Even prior to having Tommy John, he was throwing mid-90’s and could touch 100. Now, thanks to trainer Jeff Wood and pitching coach Frank Anderson, Joyce is consistently touching triple-digits.

“Working with (former strength coach Quentin Eberhardt) before he left and Woody throughout the rehab helped me gain a little extra after that,” Joyce said. “It was awesome working with Woody. He was there every step of the way, Coach Anderson, all of the guys on the team, the whole staff was there for me every step of the way, so getting out there and pitching again was a really cool deal.”

The next step for Joyce after getting back on the mound is gaining experience. He’s never thrown more than 20 innings in a spring while in college.

Joyce signed with Walters State Community College in 2020 as the No. 81 overall prospect in the country according to Perfect Game. In his lone year with Walters, Joyce went 3-1 with a 4.79 ERA and struck out 35 batters in 20.2 innings.

“He just needs experience,” Vitello said. “He certainly got a lot of it in the fall and in spring training which was the January and February period.”

Joyce didn’t pitch in 2021 as he redshirted and rehabbed from the surgery. Since his return, though, he has impressed throughout the fall and leading into the season.

“Just continuing to get that experience, go out there in different situations and get comfortable because I haven’t been in as many situations as anyone else on the team,” Joyce said. “It’ll be cool to get out there and experience different things.”

As for his role on the team, Joyce is just going with the flow.

“Whatever it ends up shaking out to be as we get throughout the season is good with me,” Joyce said. “I’m ready to do whatever I need to do to help the team and I know the guys have my back whatever it is.”