Major League Baseball has a terrifying new velocity king, and he is scheduled to take the mound today. Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski is heading into a June 19 clash against the Atlanta Braves armed with a historic arsenal. The 6-foot-7 right-hander, affectionately dubbed “The Miz,” currently holds an 8-2 record with a league-best 1.34 ERA and a suffocating 0.73 WHIP across 87 innings.
Hitters are simply out of answers. Over his last eight starts, Misiorowski has posted a microscopic 0.17 ERA while striking out an elite 13.6 batters per nine innings. He throws his fastball over 100 mph 68% of the time, keeping batters completely off-balance by mixing in a 92-93 mph changeup.
The sheer physical dominance reached a boiling point during his previous start on June 12. Facing the Philadelphia Phillies, Misiorowski fired a 104.5 mph fastball to leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber. That exact pitch set the highest velocity mark ever recorded by a starting pitcher since MLB began tracking the metric in 2008. He went on to throw 58 pitches at 100 mph or faster in that single game alone.
Misiorowski ultimately faced the absolute minimum 27 batters that night. He threw a one-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts and zero walks, delivering a historic complete game that left opposing dugouts stunned. Phillies manager Don Mattingly summed up the bleak situation for his offense after the game: “If you can’t hit a fastball, you’re in big trouble.”
The young ace has essentially been racing against himself this month. By hitting 104.5 mph, Misiorowski broke the previous velocity record of 103.7 mph, which he had just established five days earlier on June 7 against the Colorado Rockies. The absolute fastest pitch ever recorded by any pitcher remains 105.8 mph, thrown by Cincinnati Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman in September 2010.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy called the recent shutout “an incredible performance” against an All-Star caliber lineup. Now, Atlanta has to figure out how to catch up to the heat.