Yankees prospect Ben Grable has no major leaguer like him thanks to dynamic fastball

PHILADELPHIA — There is nothing unique about the Yankees developing a hard-throwing and effective reliever, the type the club regularly churns out (and regularly deals at the trade deadline).There is nothing unique about the Yankees finding a gem later in the draft, a recent organizational strength that is on display this week with first-time All-Stars Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler.So maybe Ben Grable, an 11th-round pick out of Indiana University last year who has sawed through competition at High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset, making him a late addition to Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game, is not unique.On the mound, though, there really is no major leaguer like him.Grable said he is averaging 96.1 mph with his four-seamer and about 20.5 to 21 inches of induced vertical break — essentially the movement generated from how the ball spins.The more vertical break, the more the ball seems to rise (and the more hitters tend to swing under the pitch).There are three qualified major leaguers (Alex Vesia, Tobias Myers and Dylan Lee) whose four-seamers average 20 inches of vertical break.

None has a fastball that buzzes at even 94 mph.There are plenty of pitchers whose fastball are as fast as Grable’s, but none fight gravity like his four-seamer.The closest comparison might be the Padres’ Jeremiah Estrada, whose heater has averaged 95.8 mph with 19.8 inches of vertical break this year.

In the past three years in San Diego, Estrada has often been untouchable with a 3.26 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 154 ²/₃ innings.That is as close to company as exists for Grable, whose fastball’s combination of velocity and spin makes it like no one else’s.“When I got to Indiana, they sort of taught us the metrics and all that,” Grable said before throwing two pitches and recording one out in a brief appearance at the Futures Game.“I didn’t really know how good it was until I got into New York.”The 6-foot-4 right-hander was not the first choice to represent the ...