It wasn’t just that young Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski dominated the New York Yankees on Friday night in his team’s 6-0 win. It was how he dominated one of the best offenses in Major League Baseball.
The 24-year-old “Miz” is already famous for his big fastball. Coming into Friday’s series opener in Milwaukee, his four-seamer was averaging 99.3 mph, which put him in the 99th percentile among all MLB pitchers. Against the Yankees, though, he found another gear — a gear previously not known to exist.
Misiorowski announced himself to the Yankees with one of the most overwhelming first innings ever glimpsed:
That’s not velocity we’re used to seeing from pretty much anyone not named Mason Miller or, in the recent past, Jordan Hicks. Misiorowski, though, is a starting pitcher, and on average, they don’t throw as hard as those short-burst relievers. The Miz, though, acknowledges no such standards. Regard:
The above should be restated for emphasis. The six fastest pitches thrown by starters in the era of velocity measurement were all thrown by Misiorowski on Friday night against the Yankees. Because of the undeniable historical velocity trends in the sport, it’s no great leap to say Misiorowski on May 8 threw the fastest pitches ever to depart the fingers of a starting pitcher.
In all, the 62 fastest pitches thrown in this game belonged to Misiorowski. The 57 fastballs he threw to the Yankees averaged 101.1 mph. His 94th and penultimate pitch of the night checked in at 102.7 mph
Against that mighty fastball, the Yankees whiffed 11 times and watched another 13 land for called strikes. That all set up Misiorowski’s gem of a night:
Of his 95 pitches, 66 went for strikes, and he earned 16 whiffs on 46 swings. With the sparkling effort, Misirowski lowered his ERA for the season to 2.45 with 70 strikeouts and 17 walks in 44 innings.
The win pushed Misirowski’s Brewers to 20-16 on the season, and they’ve won seven of their last 10. While Milwaukee is presently in playoff position, they have definite designs on catching the Chicago Cubs and winning the National League Central title for a fourth straight year.
Given the offseason trade of Freddy Peralta and the shoulder woes of Brandon Woodruff, the Brewers needed ace results from Misiorowski in his second MLB season. So far, he’s given them just that, and Friday night’s legendary performance against the Yankees suggests he still hasn’t reached his ceiling.
