6-25-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
The Pirates are in the business of misery but still have the chance at a series victory if they can prevail against rock-star rookie, Jacob Misiorowski who enters play today with a pristine 2-0 record, a 1.64 ERA and 0.55 WHIP.
After surging through the minor leagues over the past few years where the Brewers #4 ranked prospect compiled a 3.04 ERA and 320 strikeouts over 233.2 innings, the 6’7 flamethrower is fully living up the the hype from his 2nd round selection by Milwaukee in the 2022 draft.
Misiorowski comfortably sits at 99 with his fastball and has reached 103 at times this year. It plays up even more due to his lanky frame and elite extension. He pairs the heater with a mid-90s slider and a high-80s curve with and infrequent low-90s changeup.
Hitters have seen heat like this with the fastball but having secondaries thrown this hard with this type of release point? Man, this kid is special.
In an albeit VERY small sample size, opponents are batting .000 against his fastball, curve and changeup with just one hit (a home run) against his slider.
Yes, he has thrown 167 pitches at the major leagues and opposing hitters have only been successful against one of them. This isn’t even video game numbers; this is insanity!
He has already racked up 11 strikeouts with 4 walks so perhaps being over-eager at the plate has been hurting hitters at the dish. At AAA-Nashville this season, he had a strong 31.6% K rate but a very poor 12.3% walk rate.
In his worst start of the season on May 31st, he only lasted 2 innings allowing 5 runs off 3 hits, 6 walks and a hit batter while only netting 2 strikeouts. His opponent? The Pirates top farm team: Indianapolis Indians.
Now, no one in today’s lineup was in that game in Indianapolis but hopefully, the team and organization saw something in a game where Misiorowski walked the bases loaded and then walked in two more runs after that, and maybe can get to him today.
A big key will be staying back on his heat and finding ways to get on base. High octane power arms are prone to control issues and blow-ups at times and, if his control is not there as he has shown in the past – let him throw 4 balls, get him where you want him and make moves from there.
Steel City Pirates 