Aaron Judge had watched all the videos of Jacob Misiorowski before stepping into the box against him for the first time May 8 with the New York Yankees at American Family Field.
Seeing it in person, though, Judge was blown away. In many ways.
After going 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts on Misiorowski’s face-melting fastball, the best hitter in baseball was singing the praises of the Milwaukee Brewers 23-year-old right-hander.
“He’s definitely up there at the top of the list with a lot of the great pitchers I’ve seen over the years, but also in the game right now,” Judge said before the second game of the series May 9.
So there you have it: Misiorowski has the attention – and more importantly, the respect – of the game’s elite.
“Incredible young pitcher,” said Judge, the three-time American League most valuable player. “He was an all-star last year for a reason. Anyone that can run it up to 103 miles an hour and have some good feel for that, plus his two off-speed pitches, man, it definitely makes for a tough, tough at-bat and a long day.”
On his way to averaging 101.1 mph on his fastball and striking out 11 across six scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory, Misiorowski saved his best for the Yankees’ titan slugger.
In their first matchup in the top of the first, Misiorowski uncorked four fastballs, each topping 103 mph. His final dart clocked 103.6 mph, making it the fastest pitch recorded by a starting pitcher in the pitch tracking era (since 2008). His four fastballs at 103 mph in that at-bat alone were more than every other starting pitcher combined had registered in that span.
Judge was the one on the other end of history this time, and he recognized it.
“One of the best fastballs I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Misiorowski got Judge to line out to right to end their first at-bat and then blew him away in each of the next two at-bats.
After chucking a pair of relatively – emphasis on that adjective – pedestrian fastballs to the prior hitter, Ben Rice, at 98.0 and 98.6 mph, Misiorowski reached back and found an extra tick … or four.
He started Judge off with a 98.6 mph slider and then stole a strike with a curveball before going back to a slider to get to two strikes and finishing it off with a painted 102.0 mph fireball.
“In that first inning he really attacked with a lot of heaters, but in that second, third time through, he mixed that slider in pretty well, which is pretty impressive,” Judge said. “I’ve never seen a 98 mph slider before. You’ve got tip your cap sometimes when a guy goes out there and pitches the way he did last night.”
When the big man stepped in the box, Misiorowski was able to ratchet up the intensity.
“Yeah of course,” Misiorowski said. “You see a guy like that step in the box, and it’s the same way when [Oneil] Cruz steps in the box. He’s a big presence in that box. The adrenaline starts going up. It helps a lot.”
On a night where he painted a masterpiece, Misiorowski’s third battle with Judge was his magnum opus. He opened him up with two sliders, each for a strike, before missing with a fastball at 102.0 mph. At that point, on pitch number 91 of the game, Misiorowski found a couple more drops of adrenaline.
102.4 mph. Strike three.
“That just speaks volumes to the type of player he is. He’s a guy that it doesn’t matter if it’s the first inning or the sixth, seventh inning, he’s still pumping 100, 101 out there,” Judge said. “Like I said, a great feel for all his pitches. He’s able to mix it up, kind of keep us off balance, even though you’re up there expecting 103, all of a sudden he’ll mix in a curveball and you drop in the slider when he needs to. He kind of worked all quadrants with the heater. He’d be away with it. He’d be in with it.
“It makes for an uncomfy at bat. But that’s the type of guys you want to face in the big leagues.”
For as uncanny as Misiorowski’s pure stuff is, Judge spoke glowingly about how he located it against the Yankees, too. From that perspective, Misiorowski was as sharp as ever, throwing 70% of his fastballs in the zone as well as 58% of his sliders.
“Well, it’s 103 [mph] and I think he’s 6-6 or 6-7, so he almost is basically releasing it in the catcher’s glove,” Judge said. “You see some guys that throw 103, but you get a little bit more time. A guy like that, where he’s almost dropping it in the catcher’s mitt, man, it makes for a tough day.”
Contrast Judge’s tone to that of the Philadelphia Phillies last summer when Misiorowski was named an all-star after only five career starts, and it spells out a clear shift in perception around the game for the Brewers’ burgeoning ace.
When you’ve sold the captain of the Yankees, you’ve sold everyone else.
“What he’s done, it’s impressive stuff, man,” Judge said. “They’ve got a great, great, great young star over there, for sure.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Aaron Judge is convinced: Jacob Misiorowski is one of MLB’s best pitchers
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
