Road to The Show™: Brewers' Misiorowski (2024)

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at third-ranked Brewers prospect Jacob Misiorowski. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

Jacob Misiorowski can provide a boost for the Brewers during their pennant chase in a manner that’s not so familiar to him but quite familiar for the club.

The Brewers’ No. 3 prospect worked as a starter in each of his first 43 appearances since his debut in 2022. But his past four outings for Triple-A Nashville have been shorter stints in the later innings. So far as a reliever, he’s allowed just one baserunner, hitting a batter while striking out eight in seven total innings.

The Brewers, who own the largest divisional lead among all first-place teams, already have a strong relief core. Milwaukee ranks third in MLB with a 3.34 bullpen ERA. Adding Misiorowski to the mix not only would give the Brewers another talented arm in the bullpen, but make it easier to manage the workload for the 190-pound hurler, who has already thrown more innings this year than any other year of his career.

Misiorowski’s raw stuff is among the most electric in the Minors. He gets incredible extension on his 6-foot-7 frame and can frequently reach triple digits with his 70-grade fastball. His low-90s slider also grades out at a 70 and has shown more depth recently. He also throws a curveball and changeup.

“It’s a natural, quick arm,” Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook told MLB.com in February. “He’s a quick mover. All the things he does end up being velo. Whatever pitch you want to name, it’s off the charts. He’s a talented young man.

“Stuff is one thing. You get that naturally. Routine is going to be the key to his success. He has two tremendous breaking balls. Fastball command is key. He moved very fast. Part of his routine is getting to understand how his body moves and getting on time with that. We don’t want to slow that down, we want to control. When he starts getting that down, the command will come.”

The Blue Springs, Missouri native was well-known among scouts as a high schooler but missed time on the showcase circuit with a hamstring injury in the summer before his senior year, which was eventually wiped out by the pandemic in 2020.

He opted to attend Crowder JC in Missouri and again was limited by injury, suffering a torn meniscus in his first college start. But he was nothing short of brilliant when he returned as a redshirt freshman in 2022.

Misiorowski went 10-0 with a 2.72 ERA and finished third in NJCAA Division I with 136 strikeouts over 76 innings. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the No. 78 prospect in his class in 2022 after an impressive performance at the MLB Draft Combine.

Misiorowski had a scholarship offer from Louisiana State in his back pocket when he entered the Draft. The Brewers called his name in the second round with the No. 63 overall pick. It took an above-slot deal of $2.35 million to lure Misiorowski away from LSU.

He made his professional debut in September with Single-A Carolina, appearing in only two games, striking out three and issuing seven walks in 1 ⅔ total innings.

At the start of last season, Misiorowski returned to the Mudcats and made nine starts, posting a 3.04 ERA with a .118 batting average against and 46 strikeouts in 26 ⅔ innings. He was promoted to High-A Wisconsin in May and was rock solid for six starts, notching a 1.90 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 23 ⅔ innings before the All-Star break.

Misiorowski’s performance at the 2023 All-Star Futures Game was superb as he struck out the side in his lone inning, throwing 11 fastballs, all in the 100-102 mph range, and getting strikeouts on both of his breaking pitches.

He came out of the break with a promotion to Double-A Biloxi, where he’d make five more starts to finish the season, during the last of which he struck out a career-high 12 batters over six one-hit innings.

Misiorowski was shut down in mid-August after 71 ⅓ innings across three levels. He finished with a 3.41 overall ERA with 110 strikeouts or 13.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 66 overall prospect made his Cactus League debut this spring, appearing in just one game but striking out the side and yielding a walk in his lone inning. He also started the Brewers’ Spring Breakout game against the Royals, allowing three walks and striking out five over 2 2/3 hitless innings.

He returned to Biloxi for the start of the 2024 season and was often dominant while showing some command struggles. The right-hander pitched to a 3.50 ERA while holding opposing batters to a .183 average, striking out 105 and issuing 50 free passes in 79 ⅔ innings.

His first two appearances with Nashville were planned short starts, totaling three frames, before the shift to the bullpen. He earned his first professional save last week in the series opener against Jacksonville.

Although he’ll likely go back to being a starter at some point, it seems his immediate future and quickest path to the Majors is as a reliever. He’s also with an organization that’s well-practiced at this sort of thing. Corbin Burnes, the since-traded ace who won a Cy Young and made three All-Star teams with Milwaukee, made 61 appearances as a reliever before moving into the rotation full time.