Jack Stern

Image courtesy of © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images After departing his last start for the Brewers on April 30 with his fastballs averaging 85.4 miles per hour, Brandon Woodruff faced another round of questions regarding his future—not just about his health, but what kind of pitcher he would be when he was ready to return to a big-league mound. The first question faded away once imaging revealed that Woodruff avoided a serious injury. However, he and the Brewers played things slowly with his recovery, and there were hints along the way that he was preparing to adapt, if necessary, to changes in his stuff. In his first rehab start in the Arizona Complex League on June 9, Woodruff used his arsenal differently and tested a lower arm slot, which seemed to affect the movement of his fastballs. In his first start off the injured list in Cincinnati on Monday night, he took a step toward putting those concerns to rest. Woodruff tossed six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and did not allow his lone baserunner until a sixth-inning single. More importantly, in nearly every process-based sense—velocity, movement, and control—he was in his usual post-surgery form. That was the version that pitched to a 3.20 ERA, 2.20 xERA, and 3.17 FIP last season. “He looked like Big Woo,” said Joey Ortiz, who broke a scoreless tie in the 10th inning with a sacrifice fly in an eventual 2-1 Milwaukee win. “He attacks the zone, attacks hitters, and he gets outs.” “Nobody’s shocked,” manager Pat Murphy said. “Just because that’s ‘Woo,’ and he takes his craft seriously.” It was an inauspicious start. Woodruff’s four-seam fastball averaged just 89.5 mph in his first inning, while his two-seamer averaged 90.5. He fell behind 3-0 to the first two hitters he faced. He was battling his mechanics and said he briefly considered pitching from the stretch with the bases empty to make his delivery more direct down the mound to home plate. “To be honest, it took me a couple of innings to find it there,” Woodruff said. The control improved, though, and so did the velocity. In the third inning, Woodruff started averaging over 92 mph, maxing out at 94.9 mph in the sixth. By the end of the night, his overall average fastball velocity of 91.9 was barely below his season average of 92.2. His stuff was moving like it always had, if not slightly better. After his four-seamer had less backspin carry in that ACL start, it averaged 18 inches of induced vertical break, matching his season average. “I’ve always been a slow starter, but in the past, before surgery, it’s more of the 93, 94, and then it goes up. Now, it’s a little less than that, and that’s okay,” he said. “I just try to put the ball in good spots, and the hitter tells me everything.” The hitters were telling Woodruff to keep doing what he did before his hiatus: pound the strike zone with fastballs. As he did last season, he leaned heavily on his four-seamer and two-seamer, throwing one or the other for 61 of his 79 pitches. He expanded above the strike zone in putaway counts, but otherwise threw many of those fastballs right over the heart of the plate. “He commands the baseball, and he challenges them to hit his heater,” Murphy said. The Reds, like most teams facing the good version of Woodruff, were often late and underneath the heaters. They whiffed on 24.2% of swings against the four-seamer and two-seamer. There was some hard contact early, but five of the eight balls in play against those fastballs were hit with a launch angle above 30°, so they were hit high enough to be routine flyouts. “If I’m seeing guys, if they’re late, whether it’s 90, 91, it still plays, and I try to treat it that way,” Woodruff said. Now he faces the challenge of staying healthy for a prolonged stretch, which will take the rest of the season to prove. But for now, the fact that Woodruff still looks like himself is a positive development for him and the Brewers. Not only does it reinstate a stabilizing force near the back of the rotation, but it could also bolster the bullpen by sending Shane Drohan, Robert Gasser, or eventually Coleman Crow—each of whom has flashed abilities to be capable starting pitchers—back to multi-inning relief roles. “I’m really proud of him and what he did for the club,” Murphy said. “Because the leadership he shows doing that, it’s pretty special.” View full article

Image courtesy of © Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images It's best to keep expectations for Cooper Pratt in his debut season a bit muted. That's not a knock on his abilities or physical ceiling, but a reminder that a player's development is rarely complete when he reaches the big leagues. There's maturation—both physical and mental—that can only take place at the game's highest level. That's especially true for Pratt, who is just 21 years old and playing in his third full professional season. It might be tempting to think that as one of the Brewers' top prospects (including Brewer Fanatic's No. 4), Pratt could transform the left side of the infield from anemic to dynamic by replacing Luis Rengifo and Joey Ortiz. In reality, the left side will probably remain the weakest portion of the lineup. Pratt helps by raising the floor there. He can be a well-below-average hitter and still exceed the combined 58 wRC+ of Rengifo and Ortiz. He'll be a better defensive shortstop than David Hamilton, and Hamilton and Ortiz will field better at third base than Rengifo. "The pieces fit easily," Pat Murphy said ahead of Pratt's debut on Tuesday, also noting that the realigned infield would allow for more days off for Brice Turang, who has appeared in 67 of Milwaukee's first 71 games. Murphy similarly sees Pratt's impact this year as more about floor than ceiling. He has a solid foundation as a player that will make the Brewers better right now. Murphy praised his defense and baseball IQ in spring training, and has done so again multiple times in the two days since Pratt's promotion. However, the whole coaching staff knows they won't see the best version of him until later, after continued development at the big-league level. "He's not going to come into his power until later on in his career, in my opinion, but I think right now we can expect him to be an on-base guy, a guy that can do some things offensively for us," Murphy said. For now, that's the best approach for Pratt to have. At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, he's prompted scouts to dream about the potential power in his build, but it hasn't yet developed at this stage of his career. In Triple-A Nashville this year, his 34.6% hard-hit rate and 84.4-mph average exit velocity were well below average. The current version of Pratt won't be productive if he hits the ball in the air, so maximizing his high contact rate makes much more sense. That means seeing the ball deep to make good swing decisions, with a focus on hitting low line drives and using the opposite field. The Brewers are nearing the tail end of a similar development process with Pratt's new double-play partner. After struggling early, Brice Turang minimized his swing to become an on-base-oriented hitter. Paired with his defense, that was enough to make him a solid player. Since he established that base, a stronger, more mature Turang has eased back into a longer, steeper swing and unlocked more in-game power. "With Brice, you didn't know for sure he could be this as a hitter," Murphy said. "But by his second time around, you could just see it, like, 'This guy's ready to go, he's ready to take off.' And then it doesn't always happen on your terms, because the game deals you what the game deals you. But I think it's the same way with Cooper." Pratt's at-bats in his first two games have reflected the on-base approach. He went hitless in his debut, hitting two of his three groundouts to the right side of the infield. On Wednesday, the first two hits of his career (a ground-ball single and a line-drive, RBI base hit) were both to right field. "He'll tell you it was predicted by some great swami that his first hit would be between the three and four hole," Murphy joked postgame. "I was afraid he was going to dive or something and throw me out," Pratt said. "Once I saw it go through, I was like, 'Oh, yeah.' I heard the crowd, and it was sick." Pratt's baserunning, which drew positive reviews in the minor leagues as part of his high-IQ makeup, was tested quickly. After advancing on a sacrifice bunt by David Hamilton, Christian Yelich lined a base hit just over the head of Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio. Pratt read it well and got a good jump, allowing him to score from second base. "I knew once [Yelich] hit it, it was over his head," he said, "so I just freaking ran as hard as I could." After his second hit, Pratt stole his first career base. Despite not having great speed, he swiped 27 bases in 2024 and 31 last season due to his awareness. Two days in, Murphy continues to see the little things that led him to believe Pratt can be a meaningful player this year, even if he only scratches the surface of his long-term potential. "He had two great at-bats where he stayed in the zone and didn't try to do too much," Murphy said. "Really proud of him." View full article

Image courtesy of © Erik Williams-Imagn Images Since returning to play after a fractured left hamate bone put him on the shelf for a month, Andrew Vaughn has once again been a productive middle-of-the-order bat for the Brewers. In 109 plate appearances, Vaughn has slashed .354/.431/.531. Among Milwaukee hitters with at least 100 plate appearances, his 172 wRC+ is the best—no surprise, since only Yordan Alvarez and Nick Kurtz have him beat, league-wide. Despite that productivity, he hasn’t been a mainstay in the lineup. Since his return from the injured list on May 4, Vaughn has only started about half of the Brewers’ games against a right-handed pitcher—14 of 27, to be exact. In many of those games, he’s functioned instead as a weapon off the bench, already setting a new career high with eight pinch-hit appearances this year. Those limited opportunities are because Vaughn’s overall line is misleading, and he hasn’t quite been the same hitter he was last summer. According to Baseball Prospectus, his 108 DRC+ is still above average, but it's still much less sexy than his results. Baseball Savant tells the same story, as Vaughn’s .355 xwOBA is far lower than his .422 wOBA. Last season, Vaughn had a 117 DRC+ and .377 xwOBA after being traded from the White Sox to the Brewers. Furthermore, as fellow first baseman Jake Bauers has emerged as one of the club’s best hitters (both by process and by results), Vaughn has performed more like a platoon bat so far this year. He’s mashed lefties to the tune of a 1.438 OPS and 294 wRC+. A 117 DRC+ and .427 xwOBA don’t fully support that performance, but either way, Vaughn is doing good work against southpaws. He’s been more pedestrian against righties, posting a .693 OPS, 99 wRC+, 102 DRC+, and .323 xwOBA. Because those numbers all come from small samples, they don’t mean much on their own. However, Vaughn clearly has not found his best swing against right-handers. Since returning from that hamate injury (which can reduce the pop in a player’s swing for a few weeks past technical full recovery), his bat speed has dipped, particularly against righties. {C}%3C!%2D%2Dtd%20%7Bborder%3A%201px%20solid%20%23cccccc%3B%7Dbr%20%7Bmso-data-placement%3Asame-cell%3B%7D%2D%2D%3E--> Season Bat Speed (RHP) Bat Speed (LHP) 2025 (MIL) 70.9 71.6 2026 68.8 71.1 Bat speed isn’t everything. Hitting is not just about how fast your bat is traveling when you meet the ball, but when and where your bat makes contact. Vaughn has always had below-average bat speed, but above-average bat control. That’s helped him continue to produce this year, as he’s whiffing less and hitting more line drives. A slower swing has been part of an issue against same-handed pitchers, though. Without his usual bat speed, Vaughn has been late more often on right-handed fastballs. Thanks to that good bat control, Vaughn is still lining up his bat with the ball well enough, even when he’s late. That means he can still shoot the ball to right field; his rate of opposite field contact against right-handed fastballs is up to a career-high 41.4% this year. However, those kinds of hits are mostly singles and the occasional double. That’s how Vaughn is still hitting a decent .274 against righties this year, but only slugging .355. It’s the opposite against right-handed breaking balls. Vaughn is early more often on those pitches, leading to more whiffs and softer contact. Since returning to play, Vaughn’s swing has looked diminished, and his timing has been caught in between without the platoon advantage. With Bauers earning everyday at-bats and Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick swinging the bat better of late, Vaughn has not been a leading candidate for the greatest share of playing time against right-handers. The good news is that while his bat speed remains lower than last season, it has ticked up over the last couple of weeks. If Vaughn looks more like the hitter he was last season—the one who was regularly on time, allowing him to use the middle of the field and pull enough well-struck balls into the gap—it won’t take much for Pat Murphy to grant him more starts. He drew back-to-back starts against righties last week, with Bauers sliding to the outfield. “He’s a professional hitter, and we need him in there,” Murphy said over the weekend. “The only way to get them both in there is [for] Jake to go out and play the outfield, which he’s done quite well.” Still, Vaughn has to show a bit more to secure more of that playing time. Plenty of season remains for him to do so. View full article

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images On the one-year anniversary of his big-league debut, Jacob Misiorowski delivered one of the best starts in modern baseball history. That might sound like hyperbole, but it’s hard to dominate hitters more wholly than Misiorowski dismantled Philadelphia Phillies hitters on Friday night at American Family Field: a 95-pitch, one-hit complete-game shutout with 15 strikeouts. According to Stathead, it was the most strikeouts in a Maddux (a complete-game shutout in under 100 pitches, named for inner-circle Hall of Famer Greg Maddux) since consistent pitch-count tracking began in 1988. “For me, personally, that was as good as it gets,” Pat Murphy said postgame. “That’s probably the first one ever,” Misiorowski said, when asked if he had ever pitched that well at any level in his life. Just listing the box score line doesn’t fully do the start justice. Misiorowski threw hard. He missed bats. He induced weak contact. He controlled the count. He showed five different pitches. There’s a lot to unpack regarding just how complete his dominance was, so let’s walk through each notable number one by one. 104.5 mph This is where Misiorowski first turned heads, and it happened right out of the gates, when he struck out Kyle Schwarber to lead off the game. The 2-2 fastball that Schwarber foul-tipped for strike three was 104.5 mph, the fastest pitch thrown by a starting pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). And Misiorowski threw it when he felt his worst all night. “To be honest, the first few innings, I feel like I didn’t have it all that well,” he said. “I was just hoping they would swing, and they were hacking away, so that helped a lot.” Misiorowski has set that record multiple times, as he now owns the 17 fastest measured pitches thrown by a starter. He actually set the new high twice in the Schwarber at-bat, the first coming when he unleashed a 104-mph fastball with his third pitch. He still thinks there’s more in the tank, too. “It’s awesome,” Misiorowski said of setting another velocity record. “I mean, honestly, that’s really cool, but I think there’s always another step to go with it, so keep pushing it.” 15 strikeouts It was a career-high for Misiorowski, who has already pitched eight 10-plus strikeout games in 29 career regular-season appearances. He became the third pitcher in franchise history to record at least 15 strikeouts in a game, and the first since Corbin Burnes on August 11, 2021. Misiorowski’s outing was also baseball’s first 15-strikeout start in nearly a year, since Atlanta’s Grant Holmes did it on June 15, 2025. Eight of those strikeouts came against the first nine batters he faced, and 12 were on his signature fastball. Misiorowski’s heater has done the heavy lifting in most of his starts this year, and Friday night was no different. 24 fastball whiffs That’s the second-most swings and misses against a four-seam fastball in any outing in the pitch-tracking era. Only James Paxton managed more when he induced 25 four-seam whiffs on May 2, 2018. (Paxton struck out 16 that day in just seven innings of work, but needed 105 pitches to get those 21 outs.) Misiorowski threw his fastball 72.6% of the time, the second time this season he’s thrown it at more than a 70% rate in a start. For most of the night, he peppered one after another near the top of the zone, where it’s nearly impossible to get on top of with the bat. 3 hard-hit balls When the Phillies did make contact, it wasn’t solid contact. Of their 12 batted balls against Misiorowski, only three were hit with an exit velocity above 95 mph. Two of those were ground balls. The other was Schwarber’s line-drive single on a slider in the fourth inning, the lone Philadelphia baserunner of the night. “I thought I located it well, maybe slightly off,” Misiorowski said. “I don’t remember exactly where it was at, but I’m happy with it. Just trying to jump out ahead of him. He’s probably thinking heater, and he poked it through.” 95 pitches, 74 strikes Getting as much swing-and-miss as Misiorowski did is often a double-edged sword. It can put the pitcher in control of an outing, but it can also cut that outing short by inflating pitch counts. Balls in play make for quicker outs than strikeouts. That didn’t matter for Misiorowski, though, because he was historically efficient. He issued zero walks and never reached a three-ball count. Only five batters reached two balls. Misiorowski’s command has made massive strides this year. A year ago at this time, he was debuting in the big leagues after walking 12.2% of batters in Triple-A Nashville. His walk rate in 2026 is now 6.7%, well below the league average of 9.2%. That’s the product of focused, diligent work with the Brewers’ big-league trainers and pitching coaches. After adding muscle and ironing out his mechanics, Misiorowski’s lower half is stronger and more controlled than ever. “It’s a lot of work from people behind me and in the training room and weight room and all that,” he said. “The kid is working for it,” Murphy said. “He’ll be here tomorrow doing his work, and that’s what it’s about. Today is over. It’s a great accomplishment, enjoy it, but tomorrow’s a day of work. Get back to it tomorrow. He’s that type of kid.” 9 innings Given how he felt earlier in the outing, the thought of going the distance didn’t cross Misiorowski’s mind for most of the night. “Honestly, I thought the seventh was going to be it,” he said. “When we scored all those runs, I thought they were going to turn to me and be like, ‘Well, you’re done.’” Misiorowski went back out for the eighth, though. After he completed that frame with just 86 pitches, there wasn’t much discussion. “At the end of the eighth, I’m like, ‘You’re good, right?’” Murphy said. “He looked at me like, ‘No way. I’m going back out.’ I was joking, of course. William [Contreras] looked at me like, ‘Really?’” American Family Field came to its feet when Misiorowski returned for the ninth inning. When he reached the mound, he paused for a few seconds to take it all in. “That was cool,” he said. “It’s awesome to have the support from the city and everyone like that.” Misiorowski’s velocity dipped below triple digits a few times in the eighth inning, but the adrenaline boost of the moment helped him reach back for some of his best velocity to close things out. His average fastball velocity in the ninth was 102.6 mph, his highest since the first inning. His last fastball of the night was 103.1 mph. It struck out Justin Crawford swinging, the final bow on the most dominant Maddux on record. “I can’t remember one better,” Murphy said. In Milwaukee, at least, no one can. View full article

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images At this point, most of the baseball world knows Jacob Misiorowski has one of baseball’s best fastballs. According to Statcast, Misiorowski’s heater ranks third among qualified four-seamers in pitcher run value (+12), first in whiff rate (42.5%), and 14th in expected slugging against (.262). Those following the game closely probably also know what makes that fastball so tough to hit. In addition to averaging 100 and touching 104 MPH with it, Misiorowski’s 7.5 feet of extension down the mound adds an extra 2 MPH of perceived velocity by reducing a hitter’s reaction time, and he generates more carry on the ball from backspin than one expects to see from his low arm slot. In the 365 days since his major-league debut, Misiorowski has thrown 741 pitches with a perceived velocity of 102 MPH or higher, which is more than all but one pitcher—Aroldis Chapman, who's been pitching in the majors continuously since Misiorowski was eight years old—has in the pitch-tracking era. That abnormal combination of timing and angles often makes it nearly impossible to get on top of his fastball. Thanks to Statcast’s new swing timing metrics, we can confirm how Misiorowski’s fastball misses bats, rather than inferring it from the eye test and hitter testimonies. For the most part, that original conclusion was correct. Hitters are later on his fastball than the MLB average (the middle bell curves), and they swing underneath it more than average (the rightmost bell curves). Look more closely, though, and there are more details about how much each attribute of Misiorowski’s fastball leads to those imprecise swings. In the graphic above, the timing and vertical position of the swing are shown separately, but in reality, they’re closely related. Being late on a four-seamer typically makes a hitter more likely to swing underneath it. Every hitter’s bat path starts by traveling downward, at least slightly. If he starts his swing late on an elevated fastball, his hands and bat will probably still be traveling downward as his bat comes through the hitting zone, so he’ll swing farther underneath the ball. But against Misiorowski’s fastball, that relationship between timing and bat path isn’t perfectly proportional, particularly compared to most pitchers. Hitters are late on 35% of swings against it, which ranks 41st among qualified four-seamers, but they’re underneath it on 63% of swings, which ranks 7th. Put another way, Misiorowski’s fastball gets no more late swings than Kyle Harrison’s, but it gets swings underneath it an additional 4% of the time. That means that abnormal carry from a low slot—15.6 inches of induced vertical break from a 5.26-foot release height—might be most responsible for Misiorowski’s dominance, even if he gets more attention for lighting up the radar gun. That’s good news, because a pitcher’s excellence is more sustainable when it’s not tied strictly to velocity. Sitting in the triple digits takes Misiorowski’s fastball to another level, but it can still get bad swings underneath the ball at 97 mph. It’s not just a good pitch because he throws hard. Misioroswki’s unicorn fastball also elevates his other pitches, particularly his curveball. When a hitter takes a bad swing at a breaking ball, he’s usually early. That’s the pitcher’s goal. It’s a slower pitch than a fastball, so it’s meant to catch guys out in front when they’re on time for a heater. Then there’s Misiorowski, who doesn’t get many early swings on his curveball compared to the average pitcher. Instead, 19% of swings against it are late, the highest rate among qualified curveballs. Once again, a big reason for this is that Misiorowski throws hard. His curveball averages 87.4 MPH, the fifth-fastest qualified curveball in the game. But like his fastball, there’s much more to it than just velocity. Misiorowski’s fastball is so good that hitters must devote their full energy to squaring it up. That means eliminating his slowest pitch. If a pitch starts around the zone, they’ll see it as a fastball, and beating the fastball—getting on top of it when it’s in the zone, and laying off when it’s not—is the top priority. If a pitch starts closer to the knees, they’ll often assume it’s a curveball and let it go for a ball, trying to stay on the fastball. That’s the right approach, as most of Misiorowski’s in-zone pitches are four-seamers, cutters, and sliders. Unsurprisingly, opponents are swinging slightly more at Misiorowski’s hard stuff this year, but far less at his curveball. When Misiorowski does plant an in-zone curveball, their pitch recognition short-circuits, prompting most of those late swings. Here’s Roman Anthony taking a very late cut at a comeback curveball. anthony.mp4 Here’s Pete Crow-Armstrong making a late decision and getting tied up by a back-foot breaker. pca.mp4 In the same game, Seiya Suzuki managed to single it through the right side, but only via an 81.3-mph roller on an emergency swing. suzuki.mp4 For another non-whiff, here’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. realizing too late that he’s seeing a curveball down the middle, not an elevated two-strike fastball, and chopping it into the ground with a late, all-arms swing. jazz.mp4 Swings on in-zone curveballs are often bad news for pitchers. Across the league, they’ve allowed a .348 xwOBA and -25 pitcher run value on such swings. In many cases, the hitter ambushed a hanger. Misiorowski, meanwhile, has allowed just a .213 xwOBA on in-zone curveball swings with a +1 run value, meaning it’s actually been an effective pitch for him. It all stems from establishing his elite fastball. It was exactly one year ago that Misiorowski made his MLB debut. There were some early bumps in the road, but he matured into one of baseball’s best starting pitchers remarkably quickly. He’s gotten plenty of complimentary coverage in that time, and yet, there’s somehow still more about his performance to admire than meets the eye. View full article

Image courtesy of © Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images It's been six weeks since Brandon Woodruff last pitched in a big-league game. After leaving his start on April 30 with a dead arm and having a cyst drained in his surgically repaired right shoulder, he and the Brewers have taken his rehab slowly. It seems he's finally nearing a return, though, as he threw 68 pitches in an Arizona Complex League game on Tuesday night. Before that outing, Woodruff threw three simulated innings of live at-bats in Milwaukee last week. With media present for that session, he appeared to lean heavily on cutters and changeups. There were no public velocity readings, but his main fastballs looked slower than his usual post-surgery cruising speed of 92-93 mph. Velocity didn't look like the focus of the session, anyway, as MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reported that Woodruff was testing a lower arm slot so that his shoulder could work more efficiently. Those changes in release, velocity, and pitch usage all carried over to the ACL, where Woodruff worked 3 2/3 innings. The results from that outing don't matter, but there are takeaways to glean from how his stuff moved and how he used it. Like his simulated outing, there were signs that Woodruff might return to the big leagues as a slightly different pitcher than he was several weeks ago. Woodruff's four-seamer and sinker combined to average 90.6 mph on Tuesday. That's a welcome improvement after his fastballs dropped into the mid-80s in his last big-league appearance, but it's also more than a tick below his season average of 92.2. He was also cutting the ball more from his lower slot, leading to less induced vertical break on his four-seamer—the late carry that got hitters to swing underneath the ball for whiffs, even at 92—and less arm-side run on his two-seamer and changeup. Perhaps Woodruff will find more of that backspin carry as he settles into that lower slot. The adrenaline boost of pitching in meaningful games could also nudge that velocity closer to that 91-93 range, where he learned to succeed last year by tunneling his two-seamer and new cutter to work both sides of the plate. Right now, though, he looks like a pitcher responding to the possibility that his raw stuff has further declined. If Woodruff is indeed preparing to navigate hitters differently, his cutter might be at the center of that new approach. Last season, he threw it just 12% of the time to left-handed batters. Facing a lineup with eight lefties on Tuesday, he used it more than 30% of the time, another sign that it may be a bigger part of his pitch mix moving forward. Because that cutter is a true cut fastball, Woodruff could miss barrels with it as his primary pitch if necessary. While he threw fewer four-seamers last year, it still played well over the heart of the plate when he did use it. If that pitch is less effective in the zone with diminished velocity and movement, throwing more cutters would help him change lanes even more effectively and give that four-seamer more perceived life. Woodruff's next outing could come in Milwaukee next week, which would shed more light on where his stuff is and how best to use it. For now, the signs suggest he's adapting again and entering a new chapter of his post-surgery career. View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images As the Brewers have weathered a slew of injuries to their starting rotation, roles have become less defined by necessity. Shane Drohan has been the poster child for that flexibility, posting a 2.87 ERA, 2.79 FIP, and 74 DRA- in outings ranging from two batters to four-plus innings. "He's been terrific for us," Pat Murphy said last week. "He's really unassuming, humble. I think he's a major-league pitcher. I think we got very, very lucky." A starting pitcher for most of his minor-league career, Drohan excelled as a multi-inning reliever last month, but did so with a starter's pitch mix. Since Logan Henderson joined Quinn Priester and Brandon Woodruff on the injured list near the end of May, Drohan is back to starting. It's unclear how long he'll hold a rotation spot – his future role may have more to do with the club's needs than his own performance – but the Brewers believe he's equipped to be a traditional starter. "No doubt," pitching coach Chris Hook said. "I have no issue with him being able to [start], and just having the wherewithal to know what pitch to throw in certain counts. I mean, he can throw any pitch in any count, and that's just the mark of a starter, being able to do that and feel comfortable." That wasn't always the case. For most of his career, scouts and prospect evaluators projected Drohan as a reliever. His control wasn't good enough in the minors. He didn't consistently reach his best velocity. He threw five pitches, but didn't always sequence them well. Once the Brewers acquired him, they quickly addressed those shortcomings. They noticed that Drohan's arsenal and mechanics limited him to pitching mostly to one side of the plate. Last season in Triple-A, he leaned predominantly on his four-seamer, cutter, and two breaking pitches. With those offerings, he played the north-south game effectively -- fastballs up, breakers down -- but all to the glove side. When he threw something to the arm side, it was rarely a competitive pitch in the strike zone. Eliminating half of the strike zone makes things much easier for big-league hitters. For Drohan's stuff to play at the game's highest level, the Brewers knew he needed to give opponents more surface area to protect. "We want to balance the plate out a little bit," Hook said. As it usually does, Milwaukee's pitching development team started by working on Drohan's mechanics. Instead of rigidly veering his body toward the glove side, they wanted him to rotate more efficiently while working through the arm side. "It was just trying to get his body moving a little bit more, so we could get free and clear to the arm side," Hook said. "I think he's getting squared up a little better, on time, and his body is just moving a little cleaner through that side of the plate." Drohan generates enough backspin on his four-seamer for it to average 12 inches of arm-side run, but for him to use that side of the plate more effectively, the Brewers wanted a pitch with even more horizontal movement. That used to be his changeup, but since Drohan underwent surgery in 2024, his reinforced shoulder now guides his hand toward the outside of the baseball. That supinated motion is the healthier, more natural release for most pitchers, but it means Drohan can no longer pronate a traditional changeup effectively. In spring training, the Brewers helped Drohan add a one-seam sinker to obtain that arm-side movement. It doesn't have a remarkable shape, averaging 9.1 inches of induced vertical break and 15.8 inches of run, but it has more horizontal movement than his four-seamer. Because it's designed to add variety to his arsenal rather than be a great pitch on its own, Drohan has used it roughly 20% of the time against both right-handed and left-handed hitters. "It's just a different look off of the four-seam," Drohan said. "It makes them have to respect something hard going – a righty, going away from them, or a lefty, coming back in to them." With the sinker in tow, Drohan is now a three-fastball pitcher, and his pitch locations are more balanced. He throws the cutter to his glove side to jam right-handed batters, the sinker to his arm side, and the four-seamer to both sides of the plate. Instead of just pitching up and down, he's pitching up, down, in, and out. "Everything was kind of glove-side, and incorporating the [sinker] in spring training, getting him comfortable with that, we start seeing him be able to do a little bit more arm-side stuff," Hook said. The mechanical work has also unlocked more velocity. Drohan's two main fastballs now regularly exceed 95 mph, and his breaking pitches are firmer and tighter. That's not just a product of pitching in shorter relief outings, either. He threw 68 pitches in his last start, and his four-seamer averaged 95.8 mph. "Even though the velo has picked up so much, I feel like my perceived effort level has gone down," Drohan said. "It just tells me I'm moving really efficiently. I'm exploding in my delivery at the right time. It's just working up the chain, throwing everything harder. It's awesome." "When we first saw him, it's like, 'Man, I got to get him a little bit freer,'" Hook said. "I mean, he was so stiff. Now you start seeing some freedom and some looseness, and being on time and through the baseball more often." Drohan's mix still isn't as complete as he and the Brewers believe it can be. He replaced his old changeup with a kick change but has struggled to find a feel for locating it. The Brewers also want to see more glove-side cut on his cutter, which often backs up and instead has a few inches of arm-side movement. It's still distinct enough from his other fastballs to keep hitters honest, but right-handers have slugged .625 against it. "I don't let it get too much into my head, because I know that I have enough run on the four-seam and the two-seam that even if it technically backs up an inch or two, it's still a perceived cut to the hitter," Drohan said. "I've been able to flash cutters that are 92-93 and really cutting, and so it's like, 'That's it.' That's a really good pitch, so obviously you want that. But it's always something you're working on." Hook believes that driving his body through the arm side will also help Drohan's cutter by forcing him to stay on the ball longer. When his body drifts toward the glove side, his arm falls behind. That leaves the ball popping out while his hand is still further behind it, before he has a chance to get toward the outside of a cutter and finish it. "He's been so glove-side-oriented that he kind of gets there, and he almost forces that pitch in there instead of allowing his body to travel," Hook said. "That's where you get these backups, because the ball just kind of spins out. And for him to stay on [the ball], and then for him to be able to get to the arm side, I know that he's going to be able to get through the cutter." The Brewers will rarely declare any pitcher a finished product. Drohan is no different, but he has come a long way in a relatively short time. He's a more balanced pitcher than he was mere months ago, and he'll need those newly acquired skills to navigate Coors Field in his third career start on Sunday. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images The Brewers want Jackson Chourio to chase less. He's been a more aggressive hitter than most, especially on a team that values swing decisions and has the second-lowest chase rate in baseball since his debut in 2024. In that time, Chourio's 34.6% chase rate is the 20th-highest among qualified hitters. A hitter with Chourio's quick hands and raw power should be aggressive, because he can drive pitches that many can't. He's still been a solid hitter while chasing so much and walking so little, posting a career .273/.320/.461 line (115 wRC+). However, he often takes that aggression too far with poor swing decisions, and it's prevented him from blossoming into a star. He wants to hit, and it can make him jumpy in the box. "I think it still comes down to the anxiousness to get [the at-bat] over with, the anxiousness to get to it," Pat Murphy said earlier this week. "He can get to so many pitches that I think it hurts him." In Year 3, Chourio's plate discipline has yet to improve. If anything, it has gotten worse. His chase rate jumped from 31.9% to 37% last season. This year, it's still at 36.3%. What's more, the aggression on hittable pitches has disappeared. Chourio's in-zone swing rate is just 57.4%, down from 70.5% last year. Zone swing rate minus chase rate is not always the most telling metric, but by that measure, Chourio is making even worse swing decisions than Joey Ortiz, the Brewer most notorious for offering at the wrong pitches. To get a good swing off in time, hitters must assume a pitch will be a strike and recognize when it's a ball, not assume it will be a ball and recognize a strike. As the pitch is delivered, the thought is "Yes, yes, yes, yes – no," not "No, no, no, no – yes." When Chourio tries to be selective, he seems to be starting with that "no" mindset, leaving him recognizing strikes he can punish once it's already too late to swing. "When you're trying to get your ball-strike order, you end up taking your foot off the gas," Murphy said, "instead of keeping your foot on the gas, but really seeing what you want to see and knowing how to say no at the last second." That's led to at-bats in which Chourio takes a hittable pitch for an early strike before chasing off the plate. Other times, he's being too passive with two strikes. He's making an effort to be more selective, but it's felt forced at the wrong times. "I think he's trying to think through it and trying to be really good at it," Murphy said. "When you're trying to prove yourself, you're sometimes not being yourself." The good news is that he is still producing, in part because he's crushing strikes when he does swing at them. Chourio is hitting .291/.354/.437, and his 125 wRC+ would be a career best. His 18.1% barrel rate would be among the best in baseball if he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the leaderboard. On Tuesday night, he recorded two well-struck hits by swinging at fastballs early in the count. Chourio's skill set plays best when he's being aggressive. The Brewers don't want to take that from him, but they do want him to become more discerning at the plate. Balance is key. "It's selectively aggressive. How do we get to that spot?" Murphy said. "On the way to selectively aggressive [are] some bumps in the road. I think that's what we got going on." View full article

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images Outings like Monday night's have become typical for DL Hall this year. In two innings of relief, Hall issued three walks. He also struck out two, allowed zero hard-hit balls, and surrendered just one hit, enabling him to wiggle out of traffic without allowing any runs. Hall's 2.20 ERA this year is not fully sustainable. Nor is it a true reflection of how he's pitched. His 20.3% walk rate is the third-highest among qualified relievers. He's issued a walk in 16 of his 23 appearances, including an active streak of eight straight outings with at least one free pass. Those free bases have kept him from getting the high-leverage assignments entrusted to fellow multi-inning relievers Aaron Ashby, Chad Patrick, and Shane Drohan. Still, Hall's 3.86 xERA, 3.99 FIP, and 97 DRA- all indicate that from a process standpoint, he's been an above-average pitcher, despite the walks. He's kept the rest of the bullpen running efficiently by eating medium-leverage innings. It works because he rarely allows hits. Hall's batting average on balls in play this season is just .197. Last year, it was .202. He has the fifth-lowest BABIP among pitchers to throw at least 50 innings over the last two seasons. It's a statistical outlier for that many batted balls to become outs. At some point, hitters will start finding some holes, but in Hall's case, allowing such harmless contact no longer seems to be purely a fluke. It means he's repeatedly achieving his primary goal against most hitters. "Miss the barrel," he said. "That's what we're paid for, so that's all I'm trying to do." Hall has excelled at missing the barrel over the last two seasons. In 2025, he induced whiffs on just 19.5% of swings, but he limited opponents to an elite 28.8% hard-hit rate and 6.3% barrel rate. His quality of contact is similar this year (32.2% hard-hit, 6.6% barrel), but now his whiff rate has jumped to 29.6%. Opponents have an expected slugging percentage of just .282 against Hall this year, which ranks in the top 7% of pitchers who qualify for Statcast's batted ball leaderboards. He's harder than ever to square up, because his stuff is the best it's been in years. After failing to recapture the carry and velocity on what was once his signature four-seam fastball, Hall began reinventing himself last year to get outs by mixing speeds and shapes. He went from throwing one fastball to three, adding a cutter and a two-seamer. This year, he introduced a sweeper to bring his arsenal up to seven pitches. His stuff is grading out as above-average for the first time since his early days with the Baltimore Orioles. Season Stf+ 4FB Stf+ 2FB Stf+ FC Stf+ SL Stf+ CU Stf+ CH Stuff+ 2022 113 130 97 113 116 2023 109 114 127 112 112 2024 82 103 94 92 89 2025 91 95 86 97 95 94 92 2026 95 106 92 116 99 89 103 "Before I came here, I always threw so hard that I was essentially a two-pitch guy," Hall said. "That was great when you're throwing 98-100, but I think God put me in the situation to where I couldn't go out there and do that at 92-93, so I basically got forced to learn to adjust. And I think that was kind of a wake-up call. In the long run, if you want to pitch in this game for a long time, you've got to have variety." The two-seamer was more of an experimental pitch last year, but it's now Hall's primary fastball. He's still mostly a two-pitch pitcher to lefties, pairing the two-seamer with his new sweeper to beat them with stuff. Righties see more variety, which makes Hall's arsenal difficult to time up, even if it's not overpowering. Committing to the two-seamer allowed Hall to refine it over the offseason. He's increased the average arm-side run of the pitch from 14.5 inches last year to 16 inches this season. "When you throw a four-seam your whole life and then you grab two-seam, something feels different in your hand," he said. "I'm throwing so many sinkers now, when I go back to the four, it almost feels a little bit foreign sometimes." With an average of 10.4 inches of induced vertical break from his three-quarters arm slot, Hall's two-seamer rarely has true sink. Instead, it's more of a ride-run shape. For that reason, rather than targeting the bottom of the strike zone, Hall has thrown most of his "sinkers" closer to the top of the zone, with the goal of running them off the barrel. "Whether it's up or down, I'm running it off that sweet spot," he said. "I might throw one that's super ride-run, and then one might be kind of more just run. Either way, as long as I'm getting off that barrel, I'm probably getting the ground ball." It's working. Formerly a fly-ball pitcher as a four-seam guy, Hall's 53.2% ground-ball rate is a career best. That includes a 58.3% ground-ball rate against his sinker. He's induced five double plays, second on the Brewers' pitching staff to only Chad Patrick, who has pitched 18 more innings than Hall. Amid all of that good, the walks have remained a significant problem. Hall's new pitch mix is somewhat to blame. In past seasons, he consistently threw nearly 60% of his four-seamers in the zone, but he's still learning to control his new running fastball, throwing just 52.6% of his two-seamers in the zone. Throwing so many pitches has made it more difficult to find his release points, both within an outing and on the season as a whole. "Coming out of the bullpen with seven pitches is kind of absurd," Hall said. "It's not really much heard of. I think part of it is getting into the rhythm of the game, and I think me and William [Contreras] do a really good job of limiting how much [time] it takes. Sometimes it might take a batter, and that batter gets walked, but I think we're good at limiting." Some free bases are what Hall calls "useful walks," a byproduct of his determination to miss the barrel. The average MLB pitcher leans on their fastball to get back in the count after falling behind, throwing secondary pitches just 35.2% of the time in those situations. Hall throws non-fastballs at a 40.1% rate when behind. He willingly risks missing the zone with a breaking ball to keep a hitter off-balance in what is typically a fastball count. While he tries to attack lefties more aggressively with fastballs, he throws plenty of changeups and curveballs when behind in the count to righties. "Having the sinker-sweeper combo against lefties now, if I'm landing those and doing what I'm supposed to do, there's no reason to try and give that righty any chance to hit a homer, or just hit it and catch a barrel," Hall said. Part of his maturation, Hall said, has been learning when and how to pitch more carefully to potent righties when he has a more favorable matchup on deck. "If I get a runner on, I'm a double play away," he said. "So if there's one out or two outs, then I know that if I'm facing a righty, I'm not giving him anything too good. Now, I've kind of learned to use that." Even so, Hall knows he's walking too many hitters. He wants his misses to be more competitive, even when he's working more carefully around the zone by design. Walking some right-handers is okay, but every free pass to a lefty bothers him. He's even set up an accountability system with the rest of the Brewers' bullpen to curtail those. "Every time I walk a lefty, I owe them a little something," he said. The biggest help may come from his velocity finally returning. After Hall's two-seamer sat between 93 and 94 mph for most of April, it has sat nearly 96 and touched 97 over the last couple of weeks. That could give him the mental freedom to attack the zone more consistently. "If the velo is still ticking [up], then that simplifies everything," Hall said. "Now you can really just be like, 'Hey, I'm just gonna rip this over the plate and get a good result.'" Walks might always be part of the package for this version of Hall, who will likely remain closer to a middle reliever than a back-end bullpen arm. But even if some regression awaits, he's a useful big-league pitcher who, after some maturation, is adept at missing barrels. That's a major step up from where he was two years ago. "It's like learning everything new, and also trying to get the body to a good spot," he said. "But it's definitely rewarding, and to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel is really cool." View full article

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images Pat Murphy has spoken highly of David Hamilton all season, even though he’s been far from the Brewers’ most productive position player. His OPS has hovered beneath .600 for most of the year, and he’s been inconsistent in the field. Still, Murphy and the Brewers have repeatedly pointed to his upside and how he’s impacted the game in smaller ways, such as bunting for hits and taking extra bases with his speed. Murphy could offer new compliments on Monday night, as Hamilton went 3-for-5 in a blowout win over the San Francisco Giants. Since May 20, he’s hitting .276/.290/.483 for a strong .773 OPS while flashing more of that upside the club has insisted is in the tank. Hamilton’s hard-hit rate during this stretch on non-bunts is 50%, and his average exit velocity is 90.2 mph. Before, those marks were 28.2% and 84.3 mph, respectively. That’s a small sample of just 24 batted balls, but it might be more than a blip on the radar. Hamilton is swinging the bat harder than he was before. His average bat speed has increased from 69.1 mph before his hot streak to 70.8 during it. He added three more hard-hit balls on Monday, including a double he pulled to the right-field wall in his last at-bat. His bat speed was at least 72.5 mph on each of those three hard hits. Only eight players with at least 100 batted balls this year have a greater separation between their maximum exit velocity and their average than Hamilton, and most of the players with whom he shares that leaderboard are sluggers. He can hit the ball much harder than the waterbug types to whom people tend to compare him; that has always been in there. “He’s made some adjustments,” Murphy said. “No one has been tinkered with more than Hamilton, and to see him handle it all and do what he’s doing, he knows he’s found a home back where he started.” Hamilton still isn’t fully calibrated. Five of his hard-hit balls during this stretch have had an expected batting average below .200, because he got under the pitch and hit it too high for an easy flyout. Improving what Murphy refers to as his “flight plan”—effectively, the launch angle of his batted balls—remains a work in progress. Hamilton will fare better on hard line drives than hard fly balls, but hitting more balls hard in general by cutting his ‘A’ swing loose is a step forward. Furthermore, that swing has looked more well-rounded than it did earlier in the year. A point of emphasis has been keeping Hamilton’s front side from flying open on most swings, which had confined his productive contact to pitches low and inside. Here’s a hard 97.9-mph lineout against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week that saw Hamilton stay on a splitter away. lineout.mp4 Hamilton’s first home run of the season in Houston was an undeniable Crawford Box Special; it was hit 94.1 mph, traveled just 343 feet, and had a .140 xBA. But it was another example of staying closed on a pitch slightly away. HR.mp4 “He had a whole front side get out of there type thing going on, and he only handled one pitch,” Murphy said. “Now he’s starting to handle more pitches and more areas.” Hamilton has also flashed more of his upside in the field. He made a rangy play in the hole against the St. Louis Cardinals last week, along with a diving stop toward second base and an acrobatic leaping catch in shallow left-center. On Monday night, Hamilton converted a fielder's choice that was more impressive than it looks on video. With the pull-heavy Willy Adames hitting, he was shaded toward third base. By the time the camera cut, he had already taken several steps toward second. Hamilton quickly covered a good deal of distance to reach Adames's hard grounder, gobbling it up with a slide before flipping to Brice Turang for an inning-ending forceout. He again showcased his range a few innings later at second base, sprinting into center field for a challenging over-the-shoulder catch. Hamilton must maintain and build on the swing improvements he's flashed lately. His defense still isn't consistent enough, as he made a routine throwing error against the Cardinals before those Web Gems. But within the last two weeks, the seeds the Brewers planted have noticeably sprouted. “He knows we believe in him, and it’s showing up,” Murphy said. View full article

Coleman Crow is a game planner’s dream. He’s the right kind of natural supinator, meaning his wrist instinctively angles away from his body as he releases the baseball, but in a controlled, adjustable way. That allows him to create a wide array of pitch shapes. Crow has expanded his arsenal to five pitches this year. With his four-seamer and sinker both averaging just over 91 mph, mixing those shapes and speeds effectively is a necessity. Crow’s bread and butter, though, is his breaking stuff. His curveball has averaged an elite 2926 rpm this year with -14.3 inches of induced vertical drop and -17.5 inches of glove-side break. His sweeper similarly averages 2946 rpm with -21.3 inches of horizontal break. Crow’s cutter, four-seamer, and sinker draw mixed reviews from pitch modeling metrics, but every public model agrees that his breaking balls are his best offerings. The drawback is that pitches with such big break are not very versatile. They can be harder to land in the strike zone early in counts. Because Crow’s spinners both average under 80 mph, they’re likely to generate more weak contact than swings and misses. There are limits to how often he can use his breaking pitches as a starter, which made the cutter and sinker necessary additions to his mix. Still, spinning the ball is his strength, and his curveball and sweeper should be a significant part of what he’s doing on the mound in any role. Crow has sequenced his arsenal well in Triple-A this year. Against righties, he’s worked ahead with cutters and sinkers before expanding the zone with both his sweeper and curveball. Lefties saw cutters early, followed by curveballs and high four-seamers as put-away pitches. Overall, 65.5% of his pitches have been some version of the fastball, meaning he used his breaking stuff at a 34.5% clip – noticeably higher than the MLB average of 29.1% for starting pitchers. It was a similar approach in his first two big-league starts. Unsurprisingly, William Contreras and the fastball-favoring Brewers nudged his mix slightly further in that direction, throwing 69% heaters. However, they still utilized Crow’s breaking balls an above-average 31% of the time. That changed on Friday night in Houston, when a whopping 81% of his pitches were fastballs. It’s unclear whether this was the plan from the get-go or an in-game shift to the pitches Crow was throwing most competitively that night. He wasn’t his sharpest, throwing just 48% of his pitches in the strike zone after attacking it aggressively (58.4% and 55.9%) in his first two starts. Both his curveball and sweeper had in-zone rates of 25%. However, Contreras and Crow didn’t exactly give themselves much of an opportunity to see how competitive those breaking balls could be throughout the start, throwing just eight curveballs and four sweepers. Furthermore, while a couple of sweepers were non-competitive misses, most of Crow’s curveballs were just outside the zone, and four induced chases. Meanwhile, the Astros made loud contact against Crow’s fastballs. His cutter produced zero whiffs and yielded three hard-hit balls for an average exit velocity of 93.1 mph. Similarly, his sinker was responsible for a pair of hard hits and an average exit velocity of 94.8 mph. His final line of four runs (two earned) in four innings was partially the product of shoddy defense, but the fastball-heavy version of Crow wasn’t putting himself in positions to succeed, either. Above all else, Crow will need better command than he had on Friday to navigate most outings. All three of his fastballs are useful pitches that give him a counter for most swing paths, counts, and hitter timing. However, spinning a breaking ball remains his specialty. His best work will come when he’s throwing his curveball and sweeper competitively. Crow’s must prove those pitches can be consistent, and the Brewers’ game planners must give him the opportunity to throw them. View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images As he manages a staff of young starters, Pat Murphy frequently muses aloud about how pitching development and strategy have evolved throughout his time in baseball. "In the old days, guys would come out and throw their heater the first time around because they could locate their heater," Murphy said during a pregame media session earlier this month. "They'd come out and throw their heater and rarely show you something secondary. Second time around, they show you the second pitch. You don't see a changeup until the third time around." In an era where technology and physics have made pitch design a science, more pitchers have expanded their arsenals and know exactly which pitch types to throw based on their motor preferences. That's left fewer hurlers reliant on four-seam fastballs, particularly since the turn of the decade. In 2026, 30.4% of pitches thrown have been four-seamers. It's still the most prevalent pitch in the game, but the standard fastball is being thrown at the lowest rate in the pitch-tracking era, which began in 2008. Instead, the game has entered an era of meticulously crafting and utilizing pitch shapes. "The game's just changed," Murphy said. "Now, you might show all your pitches on the first hitter. It's the way the game has changed because command is different. Now it's stuff." The Brewers have diverged somewhat from most of the league in this department, throwing fastballs 65.2% of the time this year, compared to the league average of 54.5%. That number is a bit misleading, though. While much of baseball is mixing entire arsenals of pitches more evenly, the Brewers are mixing four-seamers, sinkers, and cutters. Their 31.5% four-seamer usage rate is comparable to the rest of MLB; it's the two other flavors of fastball they throw unusually often. Milwaukee's top two starters, however, are eschewing both versions of the mix-it-up approach. Jacob Misiorowski has thrown his four-seamer 62.3% of the time, the highest rate among pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings this season. Kyle Harrison ranks second, throwing his four-seamer 58.9% of the time. It's hard to argue with the results. Misiorowski boasts a 1.83 ERA, 1.89 FIP, and 53 DRA- in 11 starts. Harrison isn't far behind, posting a 1.57 ERA, 2.46 FIP, and 76 DRA-. Those numbers give the pair a statistical case as the best one-two punch atop any rotation in baseball. Misiorowski can supplement that fastball with a full arsenal that also includes a cutter, slider, curveball, and changeup. Harrison has improved at executing his slurve, which he used a season-high 42.4% of the time on Tuesday night when he didn't have his best fastball. But much of the time, neither has needed those secondary pitches to carve through opposing lineups. Misiorowski struck out a season-high 12 on Monday while throwing 76% four-seamers. Last week, Harrison punched out 11 at Wrigley Field while throwing 68.1% heaters. "It's both their bread and butter," Murphy said. "I think you've got to go with it and not shy away from it." According to Statcast, both fastballs have been worth 8 runs, tying them for fourth among four-seamers. Many hitters keep seeing one heater after another from both pitchers, and they've been unable to square them up. They've slugged just .268 against Misiorowski's four-seamer while whiffing on 45.2% of swings, and they've slugged .318 with a 30.8% whiff rate against Harrison's. Mixing speeds and locations is often cited as one of the keys to effective pitching. At the end of the day, though, a pitcher's goal is to prevent hitters from making contact on time and on the barrel, whether the result is a whiff, a ground ball, or a lazy flyout. Misiorowski and Harrison can do that with such heavy doses of fastballs because they have unusual movement and enter the zone at deceptive angles. "They're both unique fastballs," said pitching coordinator Jim Henderson. Both hurlers release the ball closer to the ground than many pitchers, from crossfire deliveries. Misiorowski throws his fastball from an average arm angle of 29 degrees, and even though he stands 6-foot-7, his release height is just 5.25 feet off the ground. At 34 degrees, Harrison's arm slot is a bit higher, but his average release height of 5.04 feet is even lower. Generally speaking, the lower the release height of a pitch, the less "carry" or "rise"—measured as induced vertical break—a hitter expects it to have. That's because the lower a pitcher's arm slot, the more the seam orientation of a baseball shifts, so it spins in a direction that counteracts gravity less and creates less of that perceived rise as it interacts with the air around it. Misiorowski and Harrison are different. The former averages 15.9 inches of induced vertical break, while the latter averages 15.1 inches. By generating so much carry from a low release height, Misiorowski's fastball has a -3.66° vertical approach angle (VAA, the angle at which the ball enters the hitting zone, relative to an imaginary line parallel to the ground), the lowest among four-seamers thrown by regular starting pitchers. Harrison's four-seamer has a -3.88° VAA, which ranks fourth. To put that into more practical terms, a low vertical approach angle means a fastball appears "flat" in a good way. Instead of entering the hitting zone on a downhill plane, as a hitter would expect from a pitcher throwing off an elevated mound, the ball appears to stay up or even travel on an uphill plane as it crosses the plate. Misiorowski adds even more freakish qualities to his fastball. It's the hardest among starting pitchers, averaging 99.8 mph. But because he averages 7.5 feet of extension down the mound, he delivers the ball closer to home plate than any other pitcher in the game. With that reduced reaction time, the average perceived velocity of his fastball is 101.9 mph. "I'd probably say it's pretty unique with everything that he's able to do, and how he makes it really difficult on guys with the extension, the perceived velocity—all that stuff is probably one of one," Christian Yelich said. "It's electric stuff," Andrew Vaughn said. "That fastball is probably the best in the game." Harrison can't quite dial his fastball up to that level, but it can be nearly as untouchable on a given day against certain opponents. It's returned a whiff rate of at least 40% in three of his starts, including that outing against the Chicago Cubs. "I got onto the bus after the game, and I'm looking at the highlights, and I'm just like, 'That's 95 pitches of Josh Hader,'" Henderson recalled, invoking the same comparison to the fastball-dominant former Brewers reliever as lead pitching coach Chris Hook did before Harrison's season debut. Misiorowski has become untouchable in May by spotting more fastballs to the glove-side corner, but Harrison's execution has been even simpler. There's an emphasis on elevating his fastball, where it's most effective, but he's thrown the majority of them right down the middle of the zone. For fastballs with their qualities, throwing them in the zone is often good enough. "It's nice," Henderson said. "They don't have to get so crazy on locations, either, so they can kind of pitch with some more freedom there." That simplicity of attacking the zone with fastballs isn't the only thing spurring breakouts for Misiorowski and Harrison, but not having to get too cute with their sequencing or game planning has played a significant role. When a hitter does show signs of getting to those fastballs, they have good enough secondary stuff to slow them down. "When you don't have to mix as much, it simplifies your approach, and you can just kind of get to more of just reading swings," Henderson said. "You can kind of get after your game plan a little bit easier with two pitches sometimes, where you just have to read what the hitter's looking for, and then just kind of adjust from there, instead of trying to trick them." Misiorowski still has those three additional pitches in his repertoire, should he need them. In addition to his breaking ball, Harrison and the Brewers are still working on honing his kick changeup, and they could also reintroduce a cutter down the line. For now, though, the fastballs are doing the job and then some. "I think you build a reputation of it, too, that you got to try to get to the heater," Henderson said. "And if it has a little angle, a little bit of movement to it, and you start feeling as a hitter like you have to cheat to it, and it opens up even just one other pitch for you to kind of get through a game with a two-pitch mix. It's just about being unique and having to honor it, really." View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images After a trio of young Brewers starting pitchers did not allow a run for three straight games, the tides turned over the weekend in a series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the last two games of the series, Milwaukee pitchers issued 17 walks and hit a batter. Robert Gasser and Brandon Sproat surrendered nine of those free passes, each failing to complete the fifth inning. Gasser lost his temporary spot in the rotation after that outing, his second start since being recalled in Minneapolis last week. That short leash wasn't surprising, given how uncompetitive he looked in both appearances. In 8 ⅓ innings, Gasser walked 14.6% of opposing hitters and made additional mistakes that don't show up in a box score. He failed to back up home plate on what became a Little League home run in Minnesota, and the Brewers believe he tipped his pitches to runners on second base on Saturday. "I'm not pleased with it," Gasser said on Saturday night of his recent big-league work. "This is a winning ball club, and I came in and [was] part of two losses. It's not ideal." It's another unfortunate development for Gasser, who will turn 27 years old in a few days without a clear role in Milwaukee. That seemed unfathomable less than two years ago, when he debuted in 2024 with five solid starts, but he has not looked like a big-league pitcher since undergoing Tommy John surgery that summer. Gasser showed in his first season that his three distinct fastballs and sweeping slider could deceive hitters from his low left-handed arm slot, but with a four-seamer and sinker that sit around 91 MPH, he must command his four best pitches and sequence them effectively. In sporadic opportunities, he hasn't done that. According to FanGraphs's Location+ (a metric that grades pitch location on a scale where 100 is average), Gasser's command has dropped from a passable 98 in 2024 to just 73 over the last two seasons. There will be more opportunities for Gasser throughout the season if he throws well in Triple-A, but for now, he's put himself behind other pitchers on the depth chart. Coleman Crow showed excellent command (113 Location+) in two spot starts. He or a rehabbing Brandon Woodruff could soon slot back into the rotation, which won't need a fifth starter until June 2 due to Thursday's off day. Shane Drohan, who has used a full starter's pitch mix as an effective long reliever, also deserves to be ahead of Gasser for big-league starts. Command also remains an issue for Sproat, who owns a 13.8% walk rate and has posted a 5.84 ERA, 5.57 FIP, and 4.38 SIERA in 10 outings. Saturday's start was the sixth outing in which he failed to complete a fifth inning as the bulk pitcher, and his sixth with at least three walks. While Sproat downplayed any specific pitch contributing to his struggles, he has struggled to establish his power sinker, throwing just 38% of them in the strike zone against the Dodgers. "He's got a lot of three-ball counts," manager Pat Murphy said. "He's behind 2-and-0 a ton." Unlike Gasser, Sproat has flashed enough upside to retain his rotation spot. His cutter, four-seamer, and breaking balls keep racking up swing and misses, and he struck out seven against a dangerous Los Angeles lineup. Most of his issues (high pitch counts, struggling to contain the big inning, and failing to maintain his velocity late into outings) are common for rookie starting pitchers. "He's had a couple of rough outings, but in no way, shape, or form would I think we're considering getting him out of there," Murphy said, adding that the Brewers aren't merely "sticking with" Sproat, but believe in his current upside. "This guy's got a chance to be a high-end starter. He's a rookie, so rookies are going to go through that." Sproat's lack of progress has become worth monitoring, but with Woodruff and Quinn Priester still on the shelf, the Brewers are a bit short on replacement starters. His stuff also warrants a few more opportunities before the club should consider a change. "He's so good when he's good that it gives you hope," Murphy said. View full article