Jacob Misiorowski’s Path to the Brewers’ World Series Spotlight

Jacob Misiorowski will take the mound for Milwaukee on Friday night with the World Series opening against Tampa Bay waiting at the other end of the walk from the clubhouse to the dugout. The Brewers’ 24-year-old right-hander brings the electric arm, but the people who knew him before the big-league spotlight remember a quieter kid who valued family dinners, collected Pokémon cards and found his footing at junior college.

Misiorowski’s route to this start ran through Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri, where a nearby grandmother’s house gave him an anchor. Former Crowder catcher Adamo Stornello recalled the pitcher making the trip for a homemade meal and family time while many teammates spent their off-hours together. “He made the most of having that chance,” Stornello said.

A quiet recruit who found his voice

Coach Travis Lallemand first met Misiorowski during a recruiting visit at the family home amid the COVID shutdowns. The future Brewers pitcher was reserved, a young man still sorting through the next step. Lallemand said Misiorowski was so unobtrusive as a freshman that he could disappear in a room.

Misiorowski had committed to Oklahoma State before ultimately enrolling at Crowder. During the pandemic, when normal training access was limited, he and his father built a mound in the backyard so he could throw into a net. A knee injury then cut into his first college season and extended a stay many around the program expected to be brief before pro ball.

Those extra months mattered. Stornello saw him become more invested in the group, while Lallemand watched more of his personality come out. One team competition made the point. In flicker ball — a game resembling ultimate football — Misiorowski exchanged challenges with larger teammate Conner Floyd before leveling him with a tackle Lallemand compared to something from wrestler Bill Goldberg.

It surprised the coach to see the lanky pitcher take on a bigger man. Stornello remembered a club where competitiveness ran high and nobody wanted to yield. Milwaukee selected Misiorowski in the second round of the 2022 Draft, and Crowder had given him more than a place to sharpen his fastball.

Cards, woods and a Charizard celebration

Misiorowski’s Pokémon collection has grown well beyond a small box. He has a Pokémon-decorated bathroom in his basement and makes time for card shops during road trips. His favorite character is Lugia, and Chris Sale marked Misiorowski’s first All-Star experience by finding a Lugia-related item from his own collection as a gift.

The hobby also created one of the more memorable celebrations inside Milwaukee’s clubhouse. Misiorowski opened a sought-after Charizard card with Brandon Woodruff, Rhys Hoskins and Trevor Megill nearby. He said the group had not expected much from the pack, but the sight of red on the card made him realize a major pull might be coming.

Baseball nearly had to share Misiorowski with another career path. Growing up outside Kansas City, he hunted and fished, and he once imagined becoming a wildlife biologist if sports did not work out. He is still devoted to the outdoors and recently bought hunting property in northern Missouri, with future deer seasons already on his mind.

A message shaped by his own experience

Misiorowski has also spoken openly about growing up with dyslexia. He dealt with challenges in reading, writing and spelling until a teacher recognized what was happening in second grade and helped him receive support. His approach became useful years later when he was able to help a child taught by his fiancée, sharing methods that had helped him learn.

“I needed to learn one thing in a different way,” Misiorowski said when describing his own experience.

In September, he took part in a SHARP Literacy fundraiser at American Family Field. His current favorite reading series is “Dungeon Crawler Carl,” and his message for children dealing with similar struggles is direct: they are not alone.

On Friday, the card collector, hunter, grandson and former backyard bullpen builder gets the biggest baseball of his life. Misiorowski will have the ball in Game 1, with a World Series crowd ready to see whether that right arm can make another stadium stop and stare.