MILWAUKEE – When a pitcher has lit up the radar gun at 104.3 mph in a postseason game, a 102.7 mph fastball in April might seem relatively pedestrian.
But for Jacob Misiorowski, it was something never before recorded by a starting pitcher.
Misiorowski came out hot in Saturday’s start against the Pirates at American Family Field, throwing his three hardest pitches of the season to the very first batter of the game, Oneil Cruz, and striking him out with a 102.7 mph four-seamer. It represented the fastest strikeout pitch by a starter since pitch tracking began in 2008, unseating Tarik Skubal’s 102.6 mph heater on May 25 of last season.
And Misiorowski was just getting started.
He retired the next Pirates batter, Brandon Lowe, with a 102.2 mph swinging third strike, making Misiorowski the first starter with multiple strikeouts at 120 mph or more in an inning under pitch tracking. He’s only the second pitcher with multiple 102-plus mph strikeouts in a game (the Reds’ Hunter Greene was the other, on Sept. 17, 2022).
And when you add Misiorowski’s 102.0 mph strikeout of Cruz last June 25, he now has three strikeouts on a pitch at 102-plus mph in his career, more than any starting pitcher.
Misiorowski and Greene, with 12 such pitches apiece, now top the list of starting pitchers who have thrown the most 102-plus mph offerings under pitch tracking, including in the playoffs. Justin Verlander is next with seven, followed by Jordan Hicks with six.
It’s worth noting that the list doesn’t include Misiorowski’s two hardest pitches of his career, a pair of fastballs in excess of 104 mph to the Cubs’ Kyle Tucker in Game 2 of last year’s NLDS. That’s because Misiorowski came out of the bullpen in that outing.