Brewers top prospect Jacob Misiorowski could be called up in the playoffs

NASHVILLE – “Be where your feet are,” goes the old baseball adage. In the minor leagues, it’s a phrase that gets thrown around more often than free jerseys. Don’t look ahead. Focus on the present. Control what you can.

It is an often preached phrase. In practice, the natural default and raw competitiveness of athletes make this more difficult. And nowhere is that put to the test more than in Triple-A.

There, most players got a taste of the big leagues in some capacity. The rest are on the precipice, just a phone call away from realizing a lifelong dream. Everyone wants to be in the show. Many feel them should be. However, none of them, at that moment, are.

Here, Class AAA with the Nashville Sounds, is where Jacob Misiorowski is.

Wearing white crew socks and large New Balance sandals, perched on the dugout bench on a sweltering August afternoon at First Horizon Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers’ major minor league affiliate, the team’s top prospect is in middle of the wind through batteries before a possible promotion in the pursuit of the pennant which becomes more and more inevitable by the day. Here are his feet. For now, at least.

That Misiorowski won’t last long for Nashville is Music City’s worst-kept secret.

He’s the elephant in the room — or, rather, on the diamond — every time Misiorowski takes the mound in Nashville.

Misiorowski has the best fastball in the minor leagues. “It explodes,” Sounds manager Rick Sweet said of the field. There is none to match it. His slider would be the fastest thrown in the major leagues this season. It’s not that hard to make an argument that his pure stuff is the best in all of the minor leagues.

And it turns out that Misiorowski could be uniquely built between the ears as well.

“If it fits, it fits,” says Misiorowski, sweat from the central Tennessee sun trickling down the red brim of his cap, at a late-season promotion. “We’ll see. The legs are here. Be here.”

When the Brewers promoted Misiorowski to AAA and moved him to the bullpen in early August, the final goal was somewhat veiled.

It’s not hard to imagine the lanky 22-year-old, all 6-foot-1, 8-inches, sprinting from his home field at American Family Field to throw triple-digit heat in October. It’s a tantalizing proposition for player, team and fans alike, and one that, barring something unforeseen, appears to be coming.

In his last five outings spanning nine innings, Misiorowski has given up one hit, no walks and no runs while striking out 11. With those results and that arsenal — an elite fastball, a low-90s bullet slider and a big, sweeping curveball, all of which swarm batters as Misiorowski drives down the mound with 7½ feet of extension — is the profile of a potential leverage reliever raised in the playoffs.

Even though he never pitched in the big leagues again.

“He’s got the best stuff I’ve ever seen,” Nashville starter Logan Henderson said.

And as Misiorowski melts away AAA hitters, the Brewers are headed for a playoff spot. If all goes well, maybe Misiorowski is their firefighter who will be out of the pen when they get there.

It could be a lot of shoulder. Yet somehow, Misiorowski seems unmoved by all this.

“You know someday it’s going to happen, hopefully,” Misiorowski said. “And when it does, you hope you’re ready for that moment. And you put yourself here to be prepared for that time. But for now, we’re dealing with the big Jumbo Shrimp at First Horizon Park.”

Misiorowski is an “unusually normal” top prospect.

Presented with a question about what stresses him out, Misiorowski pauses and searches his brain. There must be somethingnot?

“I mean, there’s always little things,” Misiorowski finally admits. “What time do I have to be at the field?”

That can’t be, can it?

“I try not to let baseball stress me out,” he replied. “I’m trying to have fun.”

Worries are few for Misiorowski. Stress is minimal, in life and in baseball. His right arm is overpowering, but off the field it’s just as easy to put up with.

“He is normalSweet said. “That’s the word.”

He also goes to the mound, where Misiorowski tries as hard as possible not to think Get the call, throw the ball.

“It’s just free,” Misiorowski said. “I don’t have any stress. It’s just me and the catcher. Just playing catch. It just feels fun. When I start thinking there, I start spraying it all over the place.”

Some pitchers need to think about the mound. Their game requires them to engage in rapid fire chess match with their opponent. But when you throw a vaporizing fastball and a gut-blocking breaking ball, the calculus changes.

“I think that’s why he’s as good as he is,” Henderson said. “He does a really good job of not overcomplicating things. He knows what he needs to know, but at the end of the day, when he’s on the mound, he’s going to throw the best stuff past you. He is unusually normal. A great guy. Don’t overcomplicate things. He knows what he has to do, he does it and it works. “

Misiorowski dominates in Nashville

The results from Misiorowski Sounds’ first outing weren’t great. He walked three, struck out another, couldn’t finish his second and final scheduled inning of work and allowed two runs.

Sweet’s phone was buzzing that evening with calls from Brewers staffers concerned about the finish line.

“When I talked to people, I got a couple of phone calls that night and they said, ‘Pretty bad, right?'” Sweet recalled. “I said, ‘It’s not bad at all. I was pumped. They said, ‘He went three,’ and I said, ‘It’s around the plate.’ Everyone forgets what ABS (automatic ball striking system), how it affects the game. For a guy who came in who isn’t known for point control, to handle the way he handled it on the mound, I didn’t see any change in his demeanor on the mound. His mound presence was still good.

“I told them, ‘Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine.’

Sweet was right—and then some.

Misiorowski, known for erratic control at times, hasn’t walked a batter in nine innings since his first game with Nashville. His curveball has a whiff rate north of 40%. The fastball is not far away. Average exit velocity against him is 81.5 mph.

Honestly, it’s the best look Misiorowski has ever shown. His mechanics are as in-sync as they’ve ever been. And it coincides with the fact that he keeps his craft as simple as ever.

“I mostly just think about mid-middle and let my velo and ball movement do what it normally does,” Misiorowski said. “I don’t try to win too much on the courts. When I start aiming too far from the glove side, suddenly the slider is like a foot and a half out. So I look in the middle.”

Now, when Sweet gets those same calls from members of the Brewers front office, they’re pretty short.

“‘Nothing? Was it something?'” Sweet said that’s the question he gets. “I say, ‘No. He’s dynamic. He absolutely dominates when he’s on the mound.'”

The challenge that may lie ahead

If he eventually gets called up, Misiorowski wouldn’t be the first pitcher in the Brewers’ modern era to be thrown into a similar conflagration. Josh Hader did it in 2017. Corbin Burnes in 2018. Aaron Ashby in 2021. Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta did it too, though to varying degrees.

In the Nashville club, Misiorowski has another potential contemporary: DL Hall, who as a rookie last year was moved to the bullpen with Baltimore and threw 3⅓ innings of relief in the postseason.

Hall, a former top-100 prospect, understands the challenge.

“Expectations were through the roof. It’s the same with Miz,” Hall said. “Kid rolls 100. Early pick. Sign for a lot of money. I feel like all of those things play a role.”

As the subject turns to the postseason launch, so does Hall’s tone. There is an intensity behind every word from Hall, who is so desperate to get the call from Milwaukee.

It’s a reminder that playing in those kinds of games and environments is the point — and that the players in those places are human, often driven by emotion.

This is what makes the potential challenge to Misiorowski so daunting. Regardless of your personality, makeup or bravado, the moment is not diminished for anyone.

“Once you got there, the biggest thing that clicked for me was, ‘Let’s not try to weather the storm,'” Hall said. “The storm being all the attention, 45,000 fans in the stands screaming. That storm is over there. It’s not going anywhere. Instead of trying to fight it, you use it in a positive way.”

Here another side of Misiorowski emerges. Don’t mistake his relaxed nature for passivity.

“Dominate that guy at the plate,” Misiorowski once told the Journal Sentinel. “If I could hit all 27 batters, I would.”

That’s music to Hall’s ears.

“I think the biggest thing for a guy like him, if he was going to step up and pitch in the playoffs, you have to have a little bit of craziness with you,” Hall said. “You have to, especially when you come out of the pen. In the playoffs, those who are soft are exposed. This is for everyone. There is no room for weakness, even though everyone has weaknesses. You just don’t show them.”

And so goes the October baseball rope. Rise to the moment, but don’t let the moment get too big.

Misiorowski walks another fine line. Be ready for that high-pressure baseball moment if the call comes. But don’t let that distract you from the present.

“You always want to have that in the back of your mind, that that call could happen,” Misiorowski said. “At the same time, you want to not worry because it’s not here yet. I’ll worry about it when it happens.”

For now, Misiorowski is in Nashville, still pitching in the minor leagues. He is where his feet are.

Just maybe not for long.

Brewers top prospect Jacob Misiorowski could be called up in the playoffs

Misiorowski is an “unusually normal” top prospect.

Misiorowski dominates in Nashville

The challenge that may lie ahead

By Matthew. Jr

You Missed

Yankees’ rivalry with Royals was once fiercest of them all

Romania infringed on transgender man’s rights, EU’s top court rules

1 killed, 1 injured in shooting outside Shell, Boston Fish Supreme on 3rd Ave. West of Birmingham

The best fast food fries ranked for 2024

Brewers top prospect Jacob Misiorowski could be called up in the playoffs

Misiorowski is an “unusually normal” top prospect.

Misiorowski dominates in Nashville

The challenge that may lie ahead

By Matthew. Jr

Related Post

Yankees’ rivalry with Royals was once fiercest of them all

Romania infringed on transgender man’s rights, EU’s top court rules

1 killed, 1 injured in shooting outside Shell, Boston Fish Supreme on 3rd Ave. West of Birmingham

You Missed

Yankees’ rivalry with Royals was once fiercest of them all

Romania infringed on transgender man’s rights, EU’s top court rules

1 killed, 1 injured in shooting outside Shell, Boston Fish Supreme on 3rd Ave. West of Birmingham

The best fast food fries ranked for 2024