MILWAUKEE -- Give Jacob Misiorowski a baseball, and he can make a ballpark gasp. Give him a pack of Pokémon cards, and, well, he might just gasp at its contents.
The Brewers’ 24-year-old ace gets the ball Friday against the Rays in Game 1 of the World Series. You know about the thunderbolt right arm. But behind it is a soft-spoken collector, outdoorsman and grandson who appreciates a home-cooked meal.
Before the radar gun starts blinking, meet the Miz.
1. Grandma’s house was a favorite college stop
At Crowder College in Neosho, Mo., catcher Adamo Stornello found his circle in the baseball team. Misiorowski had another familiar face nearby: his grandmother.
Stornello remembers hearing about his pitcher heading over for home-cooked meals and time together. While teammates filled their downtime with one another, Miz could get a little taste of home.
“He took advantage of that opportunity,” Stornello said.
That fits with the image of the young man coach Travis Lallemand first met during a recruiting visit at his house amid COVID shutdowns: reserved, still feeling everything out.
“His freshman year, you probably would have never even noticed him in the room,” Lallemand said.
2. Junior college brought out another side of him
Once committed to Oklahoma State, Misiorowski instead landed at Crowder.
With facilities closed during the pandemic, Misiorowski, with help from his dad, set up a backyard mound so the pitcher could throw into a net, he told Brewers Unfiltered.
A knee injury interrupted his first season, extending what teammates anticipated would be a quick stop before professional baseball.
Stornello watched him invest more in his teammates. Lallemand watched his personality emerge. And during one team competition, the quiet right-hander made quite an entrance.
The game was flicker ball, essentially ultimate frisbee with a football. Lallemand recalls Misiorowski and burly teammate Conner Floyd trading competitive jabs before Miz delivered a tackle worthy of a different sport.
“He literally speared him like [Bill] Goldberg,” Lallemand said, invoking the professional wrestler.
The coach remembers the surprise of seeing his lanky pitcher take on the bigger teammate. Stornello remembers a competitive environment where nobody backed down.
The Brewers drafted Misiorowski in the second round in 2022. Crowder had helped him find more than velocity.
3. His Pokémon obsession extends to the bathroom
The collection requires more than a shoebox.
As ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported, Misiorowski has a Pokémon-themed basement bathroom and visits card shops on the road. The hobby also supplied a memorable welcome at his first All-Star Game: Chris Sale searched his collection for a gift featuring Lugia, Miz’s favorite Pokémon.
Then came a clubhouse celebration with Brandon Woodruff, Rhys Hoskins and Trevor Megill when Misiorowski pulled a coveted Charizard from a pack.
“It’s just crazy that we pulled it in the locker room,” Misiorowski said. “I didn’t expect anything. I just saw that it was red and I was like, holy [smokes], this might actually happen.”
A triple-digit fastball is one way to get a clubhouse’s attention. A Charizard works, too.
4. His backup plan involved wildlife
Long before the World Series came into focus, Misiorowski could picture a career outdoors.
“Outside of sports, I thought I was going to go be a wildlife biologist or something like that,” he said on the Brewers Unfiltered podcast.
Hunting and fishing filled his childhood outside Kansas City, he explained. These days, he’s planning for future deer seasons. He recently told MLB.com he bought hunting land in northern Missouri.
That makes for quite the offseason itinerary: chase rare cards, then head into the woods to look for a different kind of trophy.
5. He’s helping kids through a struggle he knows
In a July interview with CBS 58’s Lance Allan, Misiorowski discussed growing up with dyslexia, describing difficulties with reading, writing and spelling. A teacher recognized his struggles in second grade and helped him get support.
Years later, he found himself helping a child his fiancée had taught, sharing approaches that had worked for him.
“I just have to learn this one thing a different way,” he told Allan of his own experience.
In September, Misiorowski helped with a SHARP Literacy fundraiser at American Family Field. CBS 58 also reported that his current favorite book series is “Dungeon Crawler Carl.”
For children facing similar challenges, the message from the pitcher about to start the World Series is simple: “You’re definitely not alone.”