Jacob Misiorowski has turned every Brewers start into an event this season. The right-hander brings triple-digit heat, but the larger story is how complete the work has been: hitters are not reaching base, they are not finding the gaps, and they are striking out at a rate that has put a 24-year-old starter alongside some of the game’s biggest names.
A season built on historic heat
Misiorowski enters Sunday having thrown 1,053 pitches at 100 mph or faster, the highest single-season total recorded since pitch tracking began in 2008. Jordan Hicks held the previous high at 673 in 2018. In fact, no club other than Milwaukee has approached Misiorowski’s total this year; San Diego ranked second among teams with 688 such pitches entering Saturday.
- On June 12, Misiorowski recorded 12 strikeouts on pitches of at least 100 mph. That is three more than any other pitcher has managed in one game during the tracking era.
- On June 26, he reached 105.5 mph, the fastest pitch ever recorded from a starter and tied for the third-fastest pitch overall in the tracking era.
- On July 26, he threw 66 pitches at 100 mph or better, setting a single-game starter record. That outing also produced records for pitches at 101 mph or better (63), 102 mph or better (54), and 103 mph or better (33).
The strikeout leaderboard by velocity has become Misiorowski territory, too. Before this season, Tarik Skubal’s 102.6 mph strikeout on May 25, 2025 stood as the fastest by a starter in the tracking era. Misiorowski now owns the top 41 spots, including seven punchouts on pitches clocked at 104 mph or above.
Only six other pitchers have recorded even one strikeout at 104 mph or more since tracking began: Aroldis Chapman, Mason Miller, Ben Joyce, Jhoan Duran, Hicks and Mauricio Cabrera. Every one of them did it as a reliever.
The box score is just as loud
The velocity is the front door, not the whole house. Misiorowski leads the majors with 243 strikeouts, a 1.89 ERA and a .160 opponents’ batting average. Since 1950, only three pitchers have finished a season as the MLB leader in each of those categories: Sandy Koufax in 1965, J.R. Richard in 1976 and Mike Scott in 1986.
That .160 mark would be the lowest opponents’ average in a qualified full season, excluding heavily shortened campaigns. Pedro Martínez allowed a .167 average in 2000, long regarded as one of the finest pitching seasons in modern history.
The offensive setting matters, and Misiorowski still stands out after adjusting for it. The league batted .270 in 2000 and is hitting .244 this season. Misiorowski’s 66 AVG+ indicates that the average against him is 34 percent better than the league norm. That would tie Nolan Ryan’s 1991 season for second-best in that measure, trailing only Martínez’s 61 AVG+ in 2000.
His 0.81 WHIP also leads all qualified pitchers. It would sit among the four lowest qualified-season WHIPs of the Live Ball Era, which began in 1920. Martínez’s 0.74 in 2000, Justin Verlander’s 0.80 in 2019 and Greg Maddux’s slightly lower 0.81 in 1995 are the only marks ahead of him. Verlander posted a 0.83 WHIP in 2022, followed by Dave McNally’s 0.84 in 1968.
- Strikeouts: 243, most in MLB.
- ERA: 1.89, best in MLB.
- Opponents’ batting average: .160, best in MLB.
- WHIP: 0.81, best among qualified pitchers.
- Extra-base hits allowed: 24.
The last item may be as telling as any of them. Misiorowski has permitted only 24 extra-base hits while striking out 243. No pitcher in major league history has finished with fewer extra-base hits allowed while also reaching at least 240 strikeouts.
Young company, and a Cy Young case
Misiorowski will be 24 years and 177 days old on the final Sunday of the regular season. If he remains atop the qualified-pitcher ERA and strikeout lists, he would become the third-youngest player to lead the majors in both categories since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913.
Only Dwight Gooden, who was 20 years and 324 days old in 1985, and Hal Newhouser, 24 years and 133 days old in 1945, did it at a younger age.
The National League Cy Young Award will not be decided until November, but Misiorowski has given himself a serious argument in only his second major league season. No pitcher has won the award in his first season, while five have won it in Year 2: Paul Skenes in 2025, Tim Lincecum in 2008, Bret Saberhagen and Gooden in 1985, and Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 as a rookie.
American League front-runner Cam Schlittler is also in his second season. If both young arms take home the hardware, 2026 would join 1985 as a season featuring two second-year Cy Young winners. For Misiorowski, that conversation is not being carried by radar-gun theater alone. The heater gets everybody’s attention; the season’s full line is what keeps him in rare company.
