What's it like to face Miz? We asked those who have

MILWAUKEE -- To the Twins, it looked like a fastball you could see out of the hand – and then it was past you. To the Rockies, it was a pitch that seemed to reach the plate before they could react. The Braves geared up for 100 mph, then found themselves chasing cutters and sliders.

The Cubs had faced Jacob Misiorowski more than most teams. Their manager still described a fastball at the top of the strike zone that “nobody can hit.” The Phillies came within one Kyle Schwarber swing of literally getting no hits in nine innings.

And Yankees superstar Aaron Judge probably had the highest praise for the Brewers ace.

“You see some guys that throw 103 [mph], but you get a little bit more time. A guy like that, where he's almost dropping it in the catcher's mitt, man, it makes for a tough day,” Judge said in May, after Misiorowski struck out 11 and touched 103.6 mph in his first career start against the Yankees. “I was excited to get a chance to face him and see him for the first time.

“You know, I’ve seen a lot of his games and seen what he's done; it's impressive stuff, man. They've got a great, great, great young star over there.”

Across the league, opponents spent the season looking for an answer when Misiorowski was on the mound. They struggled, as he finished with a 1.80 ERA, 252 strikeouts, a 0.80 WHIP and a .157 opponents’ average, each the best mark in the Majors. He enters October as the clear favorite for the National League Cy Young Award. On Saturday, the Padres will get the next chance when Misiorowski starts Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

Ask the hitters who faced him what makes the assignment so difficult, and velocity is only the beginning.

“Marshy asked me after the game,” said Phillies star Bryce Harper in June, referring to teammate Brandon Marsh, “he's like, ‘That's probably the best guy I've ever faced.’ And he asked me who’s one of the best guys I've ever faced, and I said Matt Harvey. He had that extension heater, and he was one of the first guys that really rode that heater at the top of the zone. Obviously, 104 [mph] is a little bit different.”

That was after Misiorowski’s finest start of the season, a 15-strikeout, 27-batter, 95-pitch shutout in front of a spellbound crowd at American Family Field on June 12, the one-year anniversary of Misiorowski’s Major League debut.

Harper, perhaps with October in mind, saw a silver lining.

“I'm happy we were able to face him – and I'm not saying that in a good way or bad way, but I was just happy we were able to face him and see what that looked like,” he said.

The Twins had their own trouble in an Aug. 9 matchup, when Misiorowski reached 200 strikeouts faster than all but one pitcher in history. Misiorowski began that night by throwing 21 consecutive four-seam fastballs. Royce Lewis saw one at 103 mph in his first at-bat and called it one of the most difficult pitches he had ever faced.

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Brooks Lee noticed how far Misiorowski’s 6-foot-7 frame carried him down the mound, and how his position on the first-base side of the rubber changed the angle. Even a hitter who recognized what was coming had little time to do anything about it.

“It comes out of his hand and you feel like you see it well, and then it’s by you,” Twins hitter Kody Clemens said. “Especially up in the zone.

“If he throws a fastball in the upper part of the zone, I feel like it’s damn near impossible to hit.”

Twins manager Derek Shelton pointed to the pitch’s movement near the top of the zone. Hitters had to judge whether it would be a ball or strike while trying to catch up to 100-plus mph. He called it “probably one of the most challenging at-bats in the game.”

A few weeks earlier, the Rockies had watched Misiorowski strike out the first seven batters he faced, then 12 of the first 13.

“Honestly, we were scratching, clawing, trying to get to him in any way, shape or form,” Colorado outfielder Cole Carrigg said.

Misiorowski threw 66 pitches at 100 mph or harder that day, a single-game record in the pitch-tracking era. Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer saw more than a radar-gun reading.

“That’s a one-of-one fastball, 103 with all that extension,” Schaeffer said. “It’s hard to react to that. And he throws it all the time.”

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Against Atlanta in August, the problem changed shape. Misiorowski threw six scoreless innings in a matchup with Chris Sale, a pitcher he grew up admiring. Sale left impressed by “probably the most impressive fastball I’ve ever seen.” Braves manager Walt Weiss explained what happened when hitters prepared for it.

“You’re gearing up for 100, and then you’re having to deal with cutters and sliders,” Weiss said. “It’s among the toughest at-bats.”

The Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki had offered a similar assessment after facing Misiorowski in June, on the night he fired a 105.5 mph fastball against Pete Crow-Armstrong to match the third-fastest pitch since tracking began in 2008.

“Everybody had good swings and good at-bats,” Suzuki said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry, “but overall, he just pitched better.”

The Cubs did find a way through on Sept. 2 at Wrigley Field, scoring five runs in the first two innings and chasing Misiorowski after four while snapping his streak of 25 consecutive outings allowing three or fewer earned runs. Alex Bregman homered on a slider low in the zone and added a two-run single on a 102 mph fastball. Beforehand, Cubs manager Craig Counsell had identified the opening: Get a pitch lower in the zone, because the high fastball was so hard to hit even when hitters expected it.

“When he executes, you’re in trouble,” Counsell said. “That’s generally how the great ones are.”

Six days later, the Cubs saw him again. Misiorowski opened by striking out Crow-Armstrong on a 103.7 mph fastball, reached 104.5 against Suzuki and allowed one run over 6 1/3 innings. Along the way, he threw his 1,000th pitch of the season at 100 mph or harder.

“That’s how I throw,” Misiorowski said afterward. “The guys on the other side expect that.”

They do. By now, hitters from New York to Philadelphia to Minnesota to Colorado to Atlanta to Chicago, and across the entire league, can describe the fastball, the angle and the pitches that follow.

The Padres will arrive with their own plan. Then someone will have to stand in the box and try to make it work. Nobody has consistently done that against the presumptive NL Cy Young winner in 2026.