PHOENIX -- Jacob Misiorowski has been a top prospect and a rookie sensation. He rose to an All-Star Game faster than any other player in history and fell into a second-half slump that cost him his spot in the Brewers' rotation. Then he emerged as a bullpen ace in his first MLB postseason.
Now you can add another experience for Milwaukee’s incarnation of Forrest Gump: Opening Day starter.
The Brewers announced on Friday they will hand the ball to 23-year-old Misiorowski for their season opener against the White Sox at American Family Field on Thursday -- an appropriate pick for a team heading into the regular season with a group of starters long on promise but short on experience. Misiorowski will match up against White Sox right-hander (and former Minor League teammate) Shane Smith at 1:10 p.m. CT.
Milwaukee won’t have right-hander Quinn Priester, who is bound for the injured list with symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome, and won’t have Brandon Woodruff, who is healthy but will either begin the regular season on the back end of the rotation or on the injured list as he builds his pitch count cautiously, coming off a series of injury-shortened seasons. If Brewers officials harbored any last-minute hope that Woodruff, back with the team after accepting a qualifying offer to earn the highest single-season salary for a pitcher in franchise history, would demand the ball for what would have been a third Opening Day start, that ended when he surrendered a pair of home runs with a fastball dipping below 90 mph during his fourth inning on the mound against the Rangers on Thursday night.
What the Brewers do have is a slew of young arms led by Misiorowski, a 6-foot-7 right-hander whose fastball has been clocked by Statcast as high as 104.3 mph.
“He’s a nice young talent,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “He gave us great hope with the way he finished the season and came into camp. We think it’s a good way to get going.
“Obviously, if Woody is 100 percent, Woody would be in that spot. Traditionally, people like Woody -- he’s our one veteran starter. But ‘Miz’ is going to step up.”
Murphy didn’t announce any rotation plans beyond Misiorowski getting the opener, and he was not ready to say whether Woodruff would open the season at the back end of the opening rotation, or with a backdated stint on the injured list. Either way, he is expected to join the Brewers' rotation in early April.
Other pitchers expected to start games for Milwaukee early in the year include right-handers Chad Patrick and Brandon Sproat and left-hander Kyle Harrison. Lefty Robert Gasser is another candidate, and the Brewers are pondering employing at least one opener on the first homestand against the White Sox and Rays. Aaron Ashby is the leading contender for that assignment.
"I think we're going to have to be creative on our pitching staff," Murphy said. "But we've done that before. Miz being the Opening Day choice, I think he's very capable."
The Brewers have never had a starting pitcher like him, and there never was a rookie season in Milwaukee like his, when Misiorowski went 5-3 with a 4.36 ERA in 14 starts plus one relief appearance. Those final numbers obscure the way his career began, with not allowing a baserunner until his 13th inning on the mound in the Majors against the Cardinals and Twins, then victories opposite a pitcher on his way to winning the 2025 NL Cy Young Award, Paul Skenes of the Pirates, and another pitcher likely headed to the Hall of Fame, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. Misiorowski made the NL All-Star team after five big league starts, besting Skenes (11 starts in 2024) for the earliest invitation in history.
The second half wasn’t the same. Maybe it was the extended rest built into his schedule. Maybe it was the comebacker off his shin in his final start of July, and a short stint on the IL. Maybe it was the fact he was facing Major League hitters working off Major League scouting reports.
Whatever it was, Misiorowski posted a 5.45 ERA in nine starts after the break and was removed from the rotation. After one relief appearance against the Reds during the final weekend of the regular season, the Brewers trusted Misiorowski’s makeup and velocity enough that they included him on the roster for the NLDS against the Cubs and the NLCS against the Dodgers, and he delivered electric, multi-inning appearances in both.
That propelled him into the offseason, Misiorowski said, with a shot of confidence.
“It was like, ‘Holy cow, we actually did something really cool,’” Misiorowski said at the start of this spring. “It sucked how it ended. Definitely not the way we wanted to go out. But at the same time, it’s still amazing how far we made it and how well this team performed. …
“As a little kid, that’s always what I dreamed of doing -- performing in high-stakes moments. It’s an honor that they threw me out there in the situation that they did, and had faith in me to perform the way that I did. It worked out. It was good.”
Another high-stakes moment awaits next week.