According to Eric Schaal at Sports CheatSheet, eleven different pitchers threw 100 MPH or faster in 2016.
Here they are ranked in ascending order, based on the velocity of their hardest pitch thrown (Aroldis Chapman having thrown the hardest):
As you can see, of the eleven pitchers who threw faster than 100 MPH in 2016 only five are starting pitchers (and, sadly, two of the above, Jose Fernandez and Yordano Ventura, have passed away within the last year).
So as of now (i.e. for 2017), Carlos Martinez, Noah Syndergaard, and Nathan Eovaldi (in that order) are the hardest throwing starting pitchers in all of baseball.
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But that guy in the middle – he with the lovable Twitter personality – is trying to come back even stronger and throw even faster in 2017:
Hello Florida….I'm back. pic.twitter.com/kpuJnuxGCO
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) February 12, 2017
And you know what, he might just do it:
Noah Syndergaard reported to camp Sunday and told reporters he — seriously — gained 15-17 pounds of muscle, wants to throw HARDER in 2017.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 12, 2017
Noah Syndergaard spent the winter eating bowls of venison and wants to throw harder this season. I have nothing to add to that. #mets
— David Lennon (@DPLennon) February 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/darenw/status/830823600340992000
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Already one of the very hardest throwing pitchers in baseball, Thor is clearly looking to drop the “one of,” from the title and take his rightful place at the top of the list.
And to do so, he’s apparently added 15-17 pounds of muscle … which, wow.
https://twitter.com/flippingbats/status/829363563496087553
Already listed at 6’5″ and 200 lbs, another 15 pounds of muscle on Thor is going to make that Norse God comparison even more accurate.
And who knows, maybe he’ll start throwing lightening bolts across the plate.