3 big parallels between Miz and Skenes as they get set to square off

Jacob Misiorowski looks like Paul Skenes Jr. on the mound. Now he gets to pitch against him.

The Skenes-Misiorowski showdown today at 2:10 p.m. ET -- which is MLB.TV's Free Game of the Day -- will be one of the most hyped pitchers' duels of the season. That's thanks to Misiorowski taking baseball by storm.

The Brewers' star pitching prospect has looked beyond electric in his first two big league starts. Misiorowski's historic 11-inning hitless streak to start his career was powered by some of the nastiest stuff we've seen since … well, since Skenes.

Misiorowski is on the same shooting star trajectory that Skenes took off on as a rookie. Like Skenes, the 23-year-old Misiorowski can join MLB's new wave of dominant young flamethrowers.

Here are three parallels between Misiorowski's stuff and Skenes'.

1) He has the triple-digit heater

The first pitch Skenes ever threw in the Majors was 101 mph. Misiorowski's was 100.5 mph. Skenes touched 100-plus mph 17 times in his debut. Misiorowski did it 14 times in his. Skenes threw 29 triple-digit heaters in his first two big league starts. Misiorowski threw 43.

You get the idea. Misiorowski, just like Skenes, has top-of-the-scale velocity. There's still nothing in pitching that wows like a 100 mph fastball, and these are two of the few starting pitchers in baseball who have that in their arsenal.

Misiorowski is averaging 99.7 mph on his four-seamer entering his showdown with Skenes. Hitters are 0-for-16 against it with five strikeouts.

Over half his fastballs have been at least 100 mph, the highest percentage among starters. Hunter Greene is the only starter who's thrown more 100-plus mph pitches total this season than Misiorowski in his grand total of two games. The Miz has four strikeouts on triple-digit heaters, including one at 101.4 mph.

Misiorowski is also the only starter aside from Tarik Skubal to break the 102 mph mark this season. He's topped that in each of his first two starts.

Highest max velo among SP, 2025

1) Tarik Skubal: 102.6 mph
2) Jacob Misiorowski: 102.2 mph
3) Hunter Greene: 101.8 mph
4) Jordan Hicks: 101.7 mph
5) Roki Sasaki: 100.5 mph

Even Skenes has yet to reach that threshold. His max velo in the big leagues is 101.9 mph, and this season it is 100 mph on the dot.

2) He has a unicorn secondary pitch

Triple-digit heaters are cool. But Skenes and Misiorowski really stand out for the pitches they pair with those triple-digit heaters.

Skenes has the splinker. Misiorowski has a 95 mph slider.

Yes, you read that right. Misiorowski is averaging 94.5 mph on his slider right now. He's maxed out at an insane 96.7 mph. He's gotten a swing-and-miss at as high as 96.2 mph, and K's at 95.7 mph and 95.5 mph.

That's a one-of-a-kind pitch. No one throws a slider that hard. Heck, a lot of pitchers don't even throw a fastball that hard. The average Major League four-seamer in 2025 is … 94.4 mph.

Misiorowski's slider is the hardest non-fastball pitch type thrown by any MLB starting pitcher, right ahead of Skenes' splinker. That slider is Misiorowski's answer to Skenes' hybrid pitch, which has the velocity of a sinker and the sharp vertical drop of a splitter.

Fastest secondary pitches thrown by SP, 2025
Min. 50 thrown

1) Jacob Misiorowski's slider: 94.5 mph
2-T) Paul Skenes' splinker: 93.6 mph
2-T) Edward Cabrera's changeup: 93.6 mph
4) José Soriano's splitter: 91.8 mph
5-T) Chase Petty's slider: 91.3 mph
5-T) Taj Bradley's splitter: 91.3 mph

Misiorowski has even added extra juice to his slider from the Minors to the Majors. His slider averaged 92.8 mph in the Minors in 2024 and 93.3 mph in 2025 before his callup.

3) He's a physical freak, and that makes his stuff play up even more

Skenes is a power pitcher in the truest sense, standing 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds. All his stuff explodes out of that towering frame. Misiorowski is way lankier than Skenes, but even taller at 6-foot-7, and he uses that height to his full advantage.

Misiorowski generates incredible extension on his pitches -- that's how far in front of the rubber he's able to release the ball. He delivers his pitches from a point closer to the batter than any other MLB starter, and that means they have even less time to react to his filthy stuff.

Most release extension among SP, 2025
Min. 100 total pitches

1) Jacob Misiorowski: 7.7 feet
2) Tyler Glasnow: 7.6 feet
3-T) Logan Gilbert: 7.4 feet
3-T) Brent Suter: 7.4 feet
3-T) Carson Palmquist: 7.4 feet

MLB avg. extension for SP: 6.5 feet

On his fastball and slider in particular, Misiorowski is getting almost eight feet of extension. Which is ridiculous.

Misiorowski's extension by pitch type

• 4-seamer: 7.7 feet
• Slider: 7.8 feet
• Curveball: 7.4 feet
• Changeup: 7.6 feet

Among starters, only Glasnow gets as much extension as Misiorowski on his fastball. And no one gets as much extension on a secondary pitch, with only a few pitchers like Gilbert coming close.

Being able to deliver his pitches from so close to the hitter makes Misiorowski's stuff even harder to hit, because it makes his already extreme velocity seem even faster.

Imagine trying to hit a 100 mph fastball or a 95 mph slider that comes at you from 52 feet away. It's not fair.