On the brink of the Majors, Misiorowski ending the '24 season in a new role

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jacob Misiorowski is following a familiar path for top Brewers pitching prospects. Upon reaching Triple-A Nashville, and after being a starting pitcher his entire career, the righty is pitching in relief at the highest level of the Minors.

It's not that Milwaukee sees him as a reliever long-term. Not yet, at least. But as MLB's No. 62 prospect approaches his innings limit, the Brewers are exposing him to a new situation while readying him in case he can help the big league club down the stretch.

The Brewers have done this before with future All-Stars Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Josh Hader. Each came up as a starting pitching prospect, and the Brewers shortened their workload ahead of their initial call-ups.

Misiorowski is the latest to follow this plan, and it's enabling his already-electric stuff -- perhaps the best in the Minor Leagues -- to play up even more.

"It's just one of those things that you're like, 'This is all I got. This is what they need. Let's go do it,'" Misiorowski said. "Definitely a lot more fastballs. Just more trying to blow guys away. I'd rather take just fastballs over trying to pace myself. I got it, let's do it."

Going all out for one or two innings at a time means that the club's top pitching prospect has been able to pump up his average fastball velocity from 96.5 mph at Double-A, per Synergy Sports, to 98.1 mph. His slider is now averaging 95.1 mph, the fastest such pitch in the Minors, as tracked by Statcast.

Those 70-grade pitches play up even more because the 6-foot-7 righty gets 7.3 feet of extension, which is ninth best out of 1,585 pitchers tracked in the Minors. It also means that the perceived average velocity on his fastball is 100.1 mph -- fifth best in the Minors -- as it looks like he's almost dropping the ball off in the catcher's mitt.

The results have matched his dominant stuff. In 15 2/3 innings across 12 outings, the 22-year-old has 20 strikeouts and a .078 average against. His average exit velocity against is just 82.7 mph (19th out of 1,094 pitchers, min. 25 results), and opponents have a minuscule 23.3 percent hard-hit rate.

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Misiorowski's main area for improvement remains his command, which Nashville manager Rick Sweet said has been improving. He hasn't walked a batter in nine of his appearances -- but the other three outings each featured three walks. That adds up to a 14.5 percent walk rate, almost exactly in line with his Double-A numbers.

"I've always been the long, lanky kid that doesn't know where his arms are going," Misiorowski said. "I know where they're going, but at the same time, you really don't. More than knowing exactly where my arms are going to be, if I throw and my arms are a little bit out of control, but I get the result I want? Oh, well."

Time will tell what role Misiorowski ultimately lands in. The team plans to bring him along as a starter next season and hopes that having Hader's extension paired with the four-pitch mix of Burnes and Peralta will enable him to rack up more strikeouts in the Majors -- whether six innings or one inning at a time.

"Obviously it's high-octane stuff, and we've seen that when he's over the plate, he's as good as anybody, certainly in our system and maybe across baseball," Brewers vice president of player development Cam Castro said.