Brewers 6, Cardinals 0: This Jacob Misiorowski Thing is Going to Be Really Fun

It was wonderful to see the Brewers offense break the back of veteran starter Sonny Gray in the fifth inning Thursday night. It's great to see Jackson Chourio rounding into the form the Brewers need from him if they're to threepeat as NL Central champions. Without question or reservation, though, the story of the night was Jacob Misiorowski. 

It's one thing to repeatedly top 100 miles per hour and touch 102 MPH, as a starting pitcher. It's another to do this, with one's heater and slider in combination.

There's been some debate about whether Misiorowski's slider is properly understand as just that, or as a cutter. It's hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around the idea of a slider that can sit 94 and touch 96.5, as Misiorowski's did in his first taste of the majors. It's also fair to note that, as these things go, it's not ideal for a slider to have almost no velocity separation from one's fastball. It is more of a cutter, in terms of velocity, because the hitter doesn't have to worry about being too early on the slider if they sit on the fastball.

Then again, Misiorowski showed good feel for his curveball, which accomplishes that latter purpose. And here's the thing about the slider, or cutter: it sure slides a lot for a cutter. Gray provides a great study in contrast, because he has both a cutter and a sweeper. Note the relationship, here, between the movement plots of his fastball and those two pitches.

Now, compare that to Misiorowski.

Even with velocity bands that substantially overlap, Misiorowski achieved movement on his fastball and slider that made each pitch capable of missing bats. If Pitch Info does decide to label this pitch a slider, it will be almost 2.0 MPH harder than the second-hardest slider in the league (that of the Mets' Reed Garrett) and about 4 MPH faster than the hardest among starters, Drew Rasmussen. That pitch, by any name, is a massive weapon, especially paired with a fastball so lively and which leaves opponents so little time with which to work.

As we knew there would be, there are still ample ways for Misiorowski to improve. However, his first start was a smashing success. He overpowered a good offense, and flashed multiple secondary offerings that could turn him into an ace almost immediately. The evolution of that hard, breaking pitch will bear watching each and every time he takes the mound, but whatever you call it, it's already a plus offering. So, of course, is that triple-digit fastball. Misiorowski has a full suite of ways to make hitters' days miserable, and he showed a bit of each of them Thursday. No pitcher in the majors is quite like he is. If the difference turns out to be essential to their survival, then Misiorowski should be able to adapt. If not, he might just be a unicorn.