Milwaukee Brewers’ Top Prospect Jacob Misirowski Has 103-MPH Fastball

The Milwaukee Brewers are bringing up Jacob Misiorowski’s 103-mile-an-hour fastball to face the ultimate test against MLB hitters.

The Brewers don’t even want the slender 6-foot-7 right-hander throwing that fast all the time. They would prefer he mix in his sharp curveball and slider while continuing to try and master a changeup, too.

“Part of maturing is understanding your level of effort,” manager Pat Murphy told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com in spring training. “Because you can throw it 100 mph doesn’t really mean anything. It’s being able to command what you can command. You might be better to command 98 and having your variety of pitches and staying ahead in the count, rather than being all heat and being behind 3-and-1 and having 30-pitch innings. You’re not going to get to the big leagues having 30-pitch innings.

“He’s a smart kid. He’ll get it. I think he’s got a great future.”

Misiorowski “got it” this season at Triple-A Nashville. He struck out 80 and allowed a measly 38 hits across 63 1/3 innings. He did it by throwing all his pitches, highlighted by the heater. When he fanned 11 in a masterful mid-May outing, however, Nashville manager Rick Sweet talked more about the changeup than other pitches.

“It just adds to everything he does,” Sweet told Ben Weinrib of MLB.com. “When you get a power pitcher like that, in my career, you see guys, they get high pitch counts early because guys foul them off. You throw a changeup like he has now, that’s a swing and miss pitch, and that finishes off.”

The Road From Grain Valley

Misiorowski already one of the longest names in the game at 11 letters. He’s already the biggest name from Grain Valley. Mo., 23 miles east of Kansas City. There he was an all-state pick with a 9-2 record and 1.48 ERA as a junior for the Grain Valley High School Eagles. His senior season was wiped out by the Covid-19 outbreak and he signed to play at Oklahoma, then changed his mind.

He went to Crowder College, 160 miles almost due south in Neosho, Mo. That put him on the Brewers’ radar even before he compiled a 10-0 record with a 2.72 ERA and 136 strikeouts in 76 innings.

The Brewers had selected left-hander Aaron Ashby from Crowder in the fourth round in 2018. He recently rejoined Milwaukee’s rotation from a stint on the injured list.

Ashby got $520,000 to sign as the 125^th overall choice. Misiorowski got $2.35 million as pick No. 63 four years later. That kept him from transferring to Louisiana State as planned.

“I’m just a kid from Grain Valley who always had a dream to play pro ball and here we are now!” he said then.

Minor Matters

In 68 games including 55 starts in the minors, Misiorowski has yielded only 138 hits in 233 2/3 innings. His ratio of 5.3 hits per nine innings is much better than what such notable stars as Max Scherzer, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Justin Verlander achieved before throwing a pitch in the majors.

His ratio of 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings, is better than anyone has achieved for a career in the big leagues.

The one area where he needs to significantly improve is walks. He has walked 5.4 per innings as a pro (140 in 233 2/3 innings). It is doubtful that he would have a long career in the majors with such a ratio.

It would rank second-worst all-time to 1958 Cy Young winner Bob Turley’s, 5.6 for his career. Turley had only a 4.7 ratio when he went 21-7 for the New York Yankees and won the 1958 Cy Young Award. When he went 14-15 for the 1954 Baltimore Orioles, “Bullet Bob” led the Al strikeouts (185) AND walks (181)

Misiorowski did lower his walks to 4.4 per nine this year at Nashville. That’s still in the range of what notorious wild men Sam McDowell (4.74) and Nolan Ryan (4.67) did in their MLB careers.

Spring Breakout

Fans were excited to see the big prospect in Milwaukee’s Spring Breakout game against the Cincinnati Reds on March 16,

One look at him warming up showed the kid was something special. As did getting four strikeouts and a groundout. But the rest of the results were disastrous.

He hit the first batter he faced, gave up a double and two-run triple in the first inning. In the second, he walked the first batter and sent him to second with a balk. After two strikeouts, he fired a wild pitch, gave up an RBI triple and was replaced.

He didn’t hang his head when reassigned to the minors. Misiorowski worked on all his pitches, which set up the fastball. On May 15, one of his offerings was timed at 103, the fastest in the game at any level this year.

What He Needs

Misiorowski, 23, needs to refine his release point, something that such tall pitchers find challenging. Johnson struggled for years in that regard. It may take just as long with the Brewers’ big fella. There are a lot of moving parts and getting everything in sync can be tough – but must be done to consistently throw strikes.

He also needs a nickname. Frankly, typing Misiorowski. It’s about as easy for me as it is for him to consistently throw strikes.

“Swing And Mis” sounds good, but just as long though not as challenging to type.

“Big Jake”? Maybe. “The Miz”? Possibly.

Anybody have a nickname idea? Leave it in the comments below.