Host Tom Verducci welcomes the coming New Year by celebrating the 90th birthday of Sandy Koufax!   Tom looks back and the accomplishments of Koufax and how his career started and how he ended as a Hall of Famer, 4x World Series Champion, and 3x Cy Young Award winner. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh wins the SI Breakout Player Award.  Tom documents his career from getting cut in high school to making the Major Leagues. What happens next for Raleigh and how does he respond after his 60 home run season?

Pitchers are throwing faster than ever, but using less fastballs overall.  Tom brings out the data from this season to look at where the use of the fastball is heading.  Throwing 100mph used to be an anomaly, now every team has a pitcher that hits the mark.  The number of 100mph pitches has quadrupled in just the 6 years!  Tom wraps up 2025 with some MLB news on the A's and the future of Alex Bregman.

The Book of Joe Podcast is a production of iHeart Radio.  

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