Whoosh!

Getty Images — Dylan Bundy, the Baltimore Orioles' 20-year-old, started lifting weights when he was 10, and he threw in the high-80s in middle school. He broke 90 as a freshman in high school, and had hit 100 before graduation. 

Baseball 2013: Here Come the Flamethrowers

A growing number of fastball pitchers are throwing at speeds reached by only a handful of hurlers a decade ago. Why the velocity revolution hit warp speed, and what it means for baseball.

By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN, WSJ

As Major League Baseball prepares to open its season Sunday, high-octane pitching is dominating the game as never before. One day it's the Cincinnati Reds' Aroldis Chapman, the"Cuban Missile," firing 103-mile-per-hour fastballs out of the bullpen. The next, starters like the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg and the Tampa Bay Rays' David Price are clocking triple digits deep into games when they should be tiring.

In the 2003 season, there was only one pitcher who threw at least 25 pitches 100 mph or faster (Billy Wagner). In 2012, there were seven, according to Baseball Info Solutions.

In 2003, there were only three pitchers who threw at least 700 pitches 95 mph or better. In 2012, there were 17. There were 20 pitchers a decade ago who threw at least 25% of their fastballs 96 mph or faster. Last year there were 62, including Carter Capps, the Seattle Mariners' 22-year-old right-hander, whose average fastball travels 98.3 mph, tying him with the Royals' Kelvin Herrera for the top spot in the game.

At the same time, just a decade after performance-enhancing drugs helped power an unprecedented boom in offense, hitters are spiraling into ineptitude. Last season the game's batters struck out 36,426 times, an 18.3% increase over 2003.

(More here.)