MILWAUKEE – The Brewers expected big crowds for all three games against the Yankees this weekend, including one particularly notable fan of Friday night starter Jacob Misiorowski.
“I love Misiorowski,” said CC Sabathia. “I think he’s going to be a great pitcher.
“Honestly, he reminds me of myself as a young pitcher.”
Sabathia is a Hall of Fame left-hander who finished his career with New York but is beloved in Milwaukee for the way he carried the Brewers to their first postseason appearance in 26 years in 2008. He went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and seven complete games following a midseason trade from Cleveland, pitching on short rest down the stretch despite the risk that presented to a free agent-to-be, including in a nine-inning masterpiece to cap the regular season and help clinch the National League Wild Card.
Misiorowski has a long way to go before reaching legendary status like Sabathia, who was in town to be added to the Brewers’ Wall of Honor alongside the late Hall of Fame slugger Dave Parker.
But Sabathia likes the 24-year-old’s chances.
“When he’s in the strike zone, when he’s throwing strikes,” Sabathia said, “he’s unhittable.”
Sometimes, though, finding the strike zone is a struggle. Sabathia knows all about that, since while he threw left-handed and Misiorowski is a right-hander, they both stand 6-foot-7. It’s not uncommon at all for pitchers with such long levers to take a long time honing command.
“Sometimes he can get erratic and things get weird,” Sabathia said. “But he just needs to trust throwing the ball over the plate, because he’s that good.
“It’s a lot of moving parts. He’s got a lot going on, same as me. The biggest thing I was able to do was just simplify my delivery to be able to deliver strikes. When he gets in trouble, it’s usually because he’s not throwing strikes.”
Sabathia and David Parker II threw ceremonial pitches before Friday’s game after being added to the Brewers’ Wall of Honor, an installation outside the ballpark established in 2014. Membership is based not by voting but by a set of criteria based on longevity, awards or, in the case of both Sabathia and Parker, induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Instead of wearing his old No. 52 for an afternoon ceremony featuring the Parker family, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and former GM Doug Melvin, Sabathia wore a No. 99 Brewers City Connect jersey to honor a former Yankees teammate, Gary Sánchez.
Sánchez was caught totally off-guard.
“Somebody came in here and told me, so I had to go out and see,” said Sánchez, who caught 50 Sabathia starts with New York. “He was a great teammate. The thing you can say is, ‘Great leader.’”