MILWAUKEE -- Of course Jacob Misiorowski’s first pitch in the Major Leagues was a fastball. It found the strike zone at 100.5 mph, making it the second-fastest fastball thrown by a Brewers starter in the pitch-tracking era, just a few clicks below Trevor Megill’s 100.7 mph as an opener in 2023.
That mark didn’t take long to fall. Misiorowski’s second pitch was 101.8 mph. His fifth pitch was 102.2 mph. His 78th pitch was 101.1 mph to complete a fifth hitless inning.
But in the sixth, while making his 81st pitch, Misiorowski (Brewers No. 4 prospect, MLB No. 68) felt his right quadriceps and calf cramp. As if that wasn't enough, he turned his right ankle after the follow-through, and while Misiorowski and the Brewers quelled any concern about those ailments impeding his next start, it made for an unsatisfying ending to a remarkable introduction for the 23-year-old, 6-foot-7 flamethrower in Thursday night’s 6-0 win over the Cardinals at American Family Field.
“Of course I don’t want to leave like that. I felt like I could have kept going,” Misiorowski said. “I cramped up, and stuff happens. I saw the picture and it looks bad, but it feels good, it feels great.”
For most of the night, it was great.
“I’ve been playing this day out in my head forever,” Misiorowski said. “I thought I was going to give up a few hits, get your welcome to The Show. But I kind of rolled with it, and now we’re here.”
Making Milwaukee’s most highly anticipated pitching debut since at least 2017, when Josh Hader started slinging fastballs out of the bullpen, or perhaps as far back as the day Olympic hero Ben Sheets arrived in 2001, Misiorowski worked five-plus innings without allowing a hit or a run, worked around four walks and struck out five before his abrupt exit in an outing that was every bit as electric as advertised from the very first pitch.
By night’s end, he had fired 14 pitches at 100.0 mph and above, the fourth most by a starter in an MLB debut in the pitch-tracking era. Before Thursday, all of the Brewers’ starters had thrown eight triple-digit pitches in that time, and six of them belonged to Megill as an opener. The only true starters to do it both registered exactly 100.0 mph with exactly one pitch: Wily Peralta in 2013 and Brandon Woodruff in '19.
Then came The Miz.
“It’s just incredible pitches coming at you,” said catcher William Contreras, who helped calm Misiorowski when a crowd of 27,687 stirred as the duo walked in from the bullpen. “I know that the velo is there going into it, but it definitely surprises you when you see it consistently coming in 101, 102 [mph]. After that, he had to lock in and not try to do too much. Just pitch.”
After posting a 2.13 ERA and striking out 80 hitters in 63 1/3 innings at Triple-A Nashville, Misiorowski earned his trip north to face a Cardinals team he watched often as a boy growing up just outside Kansas City. That added a little extra to his debut. So did a matchup against St. Louis ace Sonny Gray, who was passed over by Milwaukee not once but twice in the first round of the 2011 Draft coming out of Vanderbilt, when the Brewers picked two other college pitchers instead (Texas’ Taylor Jungmann 12th overall and Georgia Tech’s Jed Bradley 15th before Gray went 18th to the A’s).
Among the better choices the Brewers have made in the years since is the decision to pick a raw power arm in the second round of the 2022 Draft from Crowder College, the same community college in Missouri that produced Milwaukee lefty Aaron Ashby (who, coincidentally, covered the final three innings on Thursday and earned a save).
“I remember being in a combine with [Misiorowski] back in 2022, and I got to see him throw a bullpen and I thought it was a good fastball then,” said Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II. “It was a really good fastball today. He went out there and just competed.”
“I think next time we see him,” said Cards catcher Pedro Pagés, “maybe we’ll have a better approach against him.”
Misiorowski’s long-awaited debut was a family affair. His parents were there -- dad Tom and mom Crystal were spotted literally on the edges of their seats from the first pitch -- along with both of Misiorowski’s grandfathers, one grandmother, his girlfriend (Elle), his high school baseball coach and as many as 30 other family members and friends. Many of them wore T-shirts that said, “Here for The Miz.”
So were the scouts who spotted and signed Misiorowski for the organization. GM Matt Arnold said regional scouting supervisor Drew Anderson and area scout Riley Bandelow and their families were in attendance to watch Misiorowski pitch with a lead after the second inning, when another Brewers rookie, Isaac Collins, hit a two-out triple and Brice Turang legged out a run-scoring infield hit.
It remained a 1-0 game until the fifth, when, with Misiorowski at 78 pitches and still working on the no-hit bid, the Brewers spotted him five more runs. Sal Frelick’s two-run single and Jackson Chourio’s two-run homer came on consecutive pitches from Gray, knocking the Cardinals' ace from the game.
Misiorowski had no clue he was working on a no-hitter -- “I thought one of the popups landed,” he said -- but he finally had some room to breathe. That only lasted three pitches into the sixth inning before he rolled his ankle and had to exit.
A day earlier, Misiorowski was asking around the clubhouse for advice about his debut, and the most common answer was exactly that: “Breathe.”
“Mom’s doing the same. She’s trying not to hold her breath too long,” Crystal Misiorowski told FanDuel Sports Network’s Sophia Minnaert from the stands. “He’s a good kid. He tries very hard. He works really hard. He kind of keeps things close to the vest, but with his family and friends, he’s a cutup.”
Asked how her son was handling the hype, Crystal said, “I would say he’s very introspective of it all. He takes it in, he knows what a big deal it is, he knows how important it is for him to come show what he’s got.”
Now comes the next test: Do it again and again.
“The walk in from the bullpen was like, ‘Holy cow, this is it, we’re actually doing this,’” said Misiorowski, who heard the crowd and did his best to soak in the moment. “I don’t know why they stirred -- I’m guessing I was on the big board. It’s cool. It’s really cool.”