MILWAUKEE – Do you think Jacob Misiorowski was fired up for his first career start against the Yankees?
The 24-year-old Brewers right-hander and human flamethrower missed an immaculate first inning by an inch against Aaron Judge & Co. on Friday night at American Family Field, beginning a 6-0 Milwaukee win in which Misiorowski struck out 11 and topped out at a sizzling 103.6 mph while throwing the seven fastest fastballs for a starter in the pitch tracking era, which dates back to the start of 2008.
“I’ve never seen pitches that hard in my life,” said Yankees designated hitter Spencer Jones, New York’s No. 6 prospect making his Major League debut. “To foul off a couple is pretty great, so I’ll take that for now.”
Said Brewers rookie Shane Drohan, who followed Misiorowski’s six scoreless innings with three more to earn his first career save: “It’s hard to believe you’re going to see something you possibly haven't, with how much baseball we play. But when he’s on the mound, it’s possible.”
And 103.0 mph in the fifth inning followed by 102.7 mph in the sixth, Drohan said, certainly qualified as something he had not seen before.
No one had.
Not since Statcast started tracking.
“I kept looking up at the velo after every pitch as he got deep,” Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Before Friday, starting pitchers had thrown three pitches at 103.0 mph and up during the regular season and postseason since the start of 2008. One of those belonged to Misiorowski in his previous start, a gem of an outing at Washington that was cut short by a right hamstring cramp in the sixth inning when Misiorowski was working on a no-hit bid.
But that was just an appetizer, because Misiorowski returned healthy on Friday night and threw 10 more fastballs at 103 mph or higher against the Yankees – seven in the remarkable first inning alone.
Misiorowski threw 10 pitches in the first, all fastballs. None was below 102.4 mph. Seven were at 103.0 and up, topping out at 103.6 mph on the pitch that induced Judge’s lineout to end the inning.
Only one man on Earth has thrown a pitch harder than that in a Major League game this season. Padres closer Mason Miller topped out at 103.8 mph against the D-backs on April 25.
How did that feel from the mound?
“Just like everything was timed up and dialed in,” Misiorowski said. “It felt good.”
That first inning was nearly immaculate – the feat of going three up, three down with three strikeouts on the minimum nine pitches.
Misiorowski struck out Yankees leadoff man Trent Grisham and No. 2 hitter Ben Rice on three pitches apiece, including the two fastest strike threes from a starting pitcher – 103.3 mph to Rice after 102.8 to Grisham. Then Misiorowski started 0-and-2 against Judge, the reigning American League MVP Award winner.
At that point, all eight of Misiorowski’s pitches had been four-seam fastballs. Of course he threw another at 103.1 mph, narrowly missing the low outside corner for ball one.
So ended his bid for the immaculate.
“I had no clue,” Misiorowski said. “I got told in the dugout and I went back [into the video room] and looked. I thought it was close, but oh, well.”
Undeterred, Misiorowski came back with yet another fastball, his fastest of the inning. Judge lined it directly to Frelick in right field.
Misiorowski’s velocity typically starts at its peak and then comes down inning by inning, but he was throwing even more gas in a scoreless second inning, when he threw two more pitches at 103.6 mph to Yankees newcomer Jones. When Jones struck out on a foul tip to end the frame, Misiorowski’s teammates promptly rewarded his eye-opening start by batting around and scoring four runs in a 40-pitch second-inning rally against Yankees starter Max Fried.
Misiorowski kept throwing heat deeper into an outing than he ever had before. He struck out the side in the fifth inning while hitting 103.0 mph on his 71st pitch of the night. It missed inside in an 0-2 count against Ryan McMahon, but Misiorowski came back to get McMahon swinging on a 101.4 mph heater at the top of the zone.
That represented another first for the pitch-tracking era.
Before Misiorowski, the fastest fastball from a starting pitcher in the fifth inning or later was 102.6 mph from Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, which, incredibly, came in the ninth inning against the Guardians on May 25, 2025, to complete a shutout.
Misiorowski was still throwing 102.7 mph in the sixth inning on the way to striking out Cody Bellinger for No. 11 in the game. A batter before that, Misiorowski struck out Judge to cement his fifth double-digit strikeout performance in 22 career starts. Brewers manager Pat Murphy compared Misiorowski to a young prizefighter finding his way.
“You come up and you don’t realize what it [takes] to get six innings against a lineup like that,” Murphy said. “You don’t realize the condition it takes, the mental up and down. Just the exhaustion, the adrenaline, everything. It’s like a fighter learning to fight multiple rounds.”
Has Misiorowski ever sustained velocity like that?
“Not at this level, but, yeah, I’ve had games where you get that sudden burst of adrenaline in the fifth or sixth and you find it,” Misiorowski said. “This was a first for the big leagues.”
It capped a night that re-wrote the Statcast record books.
Misiorowski threw 22 pitches at 102.0-plus mph, two more than any other pitcher in the pitch tracking era. He had four strikeouts at 102.0-plus mph, another record for this era. His average fastball was 101.1 mph, the highest for any pitcher who threw at least 40 pitches in a game during this era.
Before Friday, the fastest pitch from a starting pitcher was Jordan Hicks’ 103.2 mph heater for the Cardinals in 2022. Misiorowski threw seven pitches at that velocity and higher on Friday night alone.
It was the Brewers’ first shutout victory over the Yankees since Sept. 2, 1992, and quite a way to avenge the last meeting between these teams. Last year in the opening series at Yankee Stadium, New York outscored Milwaukee, 36-14, while the Brewers became the first team since 1901 to allow at least 15 homers in its first three games of a season. Misiorowski wasn’t in the big leagues yet.
On Friday, he led the way.
“Miz is interested in being great,” Murphy said. “And he’s in that process of being great.”