MILWAUKEE – Jacob Misiorowski said he’s rested and ready to begin the second half with a high-profile matchup against former teammate Freddy Peralta and the Mets on Monday night at American Family Field.
“That will be fun,” said Misiorowski, MLB’s leader in ERA (1.62) strikeouts (167), ERA+ (260) and opponents’ average (.148). “I want the best for Freddy. He’s an awesome guy. I love Freddy.
“But he’s on the other team, so you’ve got to kick his [butt]. That’s my job.”
It will be Misiorowski’s first start in 13 days, since logging 11 strikeouts over seven quality innings of a victory in St. Louis in Game 1 of a doubleheader on July 7. He was penciled in for one more start in Pittsburgh on July 12 but was probably never going to pitch that game, considering his heavy workload and record-setting velocity during the first half. When the Brewers scratched the 24-year-old from that outing, they cited arm fatigue.
Misiorowski says he threw one baseball in Philadelphia during All-Star festivities on Monday and Tuesday, a toss to a fan in the stands. He returned to Milwaukee to play catch on Wednesday and Thursday, then threw a bullpen session on Saturday.
“I feel normal. I feel good,” Misiorowski said. “The rest was 100 percent good. I feel ready.”
That’s a promising report, because the All-Star break is not much of a break for players who attend the festivities, even those like Misiorowski who don’t play in the game. Players spent two long days on their feet participating in events and autograph sessions before late-night flights home to spend 48 glorious hours with no obligations.
Misiorowski’s experience pitching in the All-Star Game last year as a rookie helped him navigate the week this time.
“It was enough of a mental divide,” he said. “It’s obviously not a ‘break’ because you’re at the field, but to mentally check out and not stress about pitching in a game made it so much better. I made one throw to a fan and it came up short and I was like, ‘Yep, that’s my one throw. I’m good.’”
He’ll be matched up against a former teammate in Peralta, who went 70-42 with a 3.69 ERA over eight seasons with the Brewers before they traded him to the Mets last winter with one year left on his contract.
This season has been trying for both Peralta and the Mets, who sit in last place in the NL East, way back of the fourth place Nationals. Peralta is 5-8 with a 4.88 ERA through his first 20 starts, his highest ERA since he posted a 5.29 ERA mostly as a 23-year-old Brewers reliever in 2019.
“My favorite thing about Freddy was how kind and caring he was about everyone,” Misiorowski said. “It didn’t matter if you were a guy who showed up yesterday, he was still going to be your friend.”
The Brewers’ published pitching probables originally had Brandon Sproat starting opposite Peralta on Monday, which would have been another fun matchup considering the Brewers traded Peralta to New York for Sproat and infield prospect Jett Williams in January. But on Sunday the team announced Misiorowski would start Monday and Sproat would go Tuesday, which is how Misiorowski says he had it all along.
He’s at 111 regular-season innings so far, about 20 innings shy of last year’s total from the Minors, Majors and postseason. All parties are mindful of that, so the Brewers have mapped a plan for the second half designed to deliver Misiorowski to October in peak form, with plenty of innings to work with should the team make a deep postseason run.
“I think they have it mapped pretty close to the end,” Misiorowski said. “Obviously, stuff happens, stuff changes, and you have to make a change here and there. But it’s pretty mapped out. I might bump back a day, bump forward a day. You never know.
“We’ll be ready.”