Brewer Fanatic 2024 Offseason Top 20 Prospect - No. 1: Jacob Misiorowski

#1 Jacob Misiorowski (Biloxi Shuckers, Nashville Sounds)

In terms of pure ceiling, the Brewers' second-round selection in the 2022 draft has one of the highest in baseball. A junior college standout from Crowder College in Missouri, Misiorowski is a freak athlete on the mound, with long levers and a blazing fastball. Since selecting Misiorowski, the Brewers have been extremely cautious in managing his workload. He only appeared in two games in 2022 and was built up very slowly in 2023. In 2024, they managed the workload differently, as he began the season making starts but finished in the bullpen. During that time, he moved from Double-A, where he had started the season, to Triple-A, where he would ultimately finish it. He continued to show his immense potential along the way, but also the qualities that have evaluators hesitant to label him a starting pitcher in the long term.

What to Like:
Misiorowski has, arguably, the most electric fastball in the minor leagues. Sitting in the 96-99 range most of the time, he has proven capable of running it up all the way to 102 in shorter stints. Not only does his fastball have 80-grade velocity, but it also has really good characteristics. Despite being 6’7", he releases the ball at just over five feet off the ground, which helps him generate a Vertical Approach Angle of -4.1, an elite number. Misiorowski also gets an insane 7.4 feet of extension, which would have finished in the 99th percentile in MLB this past season. 

His fastball compares extremely well to Zach Wheeler’s regarding release height, movement, and extension. However, Misiorowski’s fastball is thrown a couple of miles per hour harder than Wheeler’s. The consensus is that somebody with around 6.5 feet of extension will have essentially the same perceived velocity as their actual velocity. Each foot of extension beyond that adds about two MPH from the hitter's point of view. That means that a 98 MPH fastball from Misiorowski looks like 100, and if he runs it up to 102, it looks like 104.

His fastball is his best pitch, but his secondaries don’t lag far behind. His slider has long been considered his best secondary offering, and it is a very good pitch, sitting in the low 90s with more of a cutter shape than a true slider. It missed a lot of bats at the lower levels but was more of a barrel-missing pitch for him in Triple-A, as he only generated whiffs at a 16.7% rate. 

His mid-80s curveball made a huge leap in 2023 and got even better in 2024. The curve shows a big, late drop with an above-average sweep, and hitters take it for many strikes because of how tough it is to pick up. It also became his primary “out pitch” in 2024, as he used it far more often than the slider. At the Triple-A level, the curveball generated an elite chase rate of 39.6% and a similarly elite whiff rate of 41%. It has surpassed the slider as his best secondary and is a borderline 70-grade pitch. 

What to Work On:
It’s not a secret that Misiorowski has command concerns. It was the main knock on him during the draft, and it has followed him early in his career. A walk rate of 14.39% and over five walks per nine innings is not something he will be able to get away with in MLB, especially if he wants to continue down the path of being a starting pitcher. 

Along those lines, there is still concern over whether Misiorowski will end up being forced into a full time relief role at some point. His delivery does involve a lot of effort, and has a lot of moving parts. From the time he was drafted to the present, there has been quite a bit of improvement in terms of repeating his mechanics and staying within himself more often, so he will look to continue to build upon that. Adding some bulk to his frame could help keep the body in sync more consistently. 

While his fastball, slider and curveball combination have done the majority of the work for Misiorowski, he does also throw a changeup. The changeup is a distant fourth offering at the moment, and one he never actually broke out in Triple-A. He has very little command over it and is almost completely unable to throw it for strikes. The pitch shows signs of having good, late depth on it, but if he can’t learn to command it better he will likely need to scrap it, which he may have already done. 

What’s next:
Misiorowski has moved very quickly through the Brewers system. He will almost certainly begin 2025 back in Triple-A Nashville. The bigger question is whether they will have him starting games, or if he will be preparing for a bullpen role in MLB. His stuff is good enough to pitch in the majors right now, especially in that aforementioned bullpen role. He showed a better ability to hold his velocity deeper into games in 2024, which means if he can make strides with his command (a big if), then starting games should still be on the table. Either way, assuming full health, it feels like a safe assumption that Misiorowski will make his MLB debut in 2025. The role in which that will happen is all that’s left to find out.

What are your thoughts on Misiorowski? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Do you think he can stick as a starter? Let us know in the comments!

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