Still buzzing after Jacob Misiorowski’s magnificent performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers at American Family Field on July 8? You’re not alone?
The Brewers’ 3-1 victory featured the rookie pitcher carving up the best lineup in baseball to the tune of 12 strikeouts in the first five innings alone, finishing with six innings of one-run baseball — the result of a leadoff homer by Shohei Ohtani. Misiorowski has made five starts in his big league career and won four of them, and the Brewers achieved a new high water mark for the season at 12 games over .500.
Misiorowski’s outing, paired with relievers Jared Koenig, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill, yielded the fastest average fastball for a single game in MLB pitch-tracking history, dating back to 2008. And that’s not the only eye-popping stat from the contest;
The last time a pitcher struck out 12 Dodgers? Well, he plays for the Dodgers now
That would be Shohei Ohtani, who struck out 12 Dodgers batters during a game June 21, 2023. At the time, of course, Ohtani played for the Angels, and today the perennial MVP candidate is leading off for Los Angeles and working his way back to pitching.
Before that outing, it was Zac Gallen of Arizona, who struck out 12 Dodgers on Sept. 22, 2022.
But according to Codify, Misiorowski is the first pitcher in the pitch-tracking era to rack up those 12 strikeouts against the Dodgers in just five innings.
Consider that Misiorowski is also the seventh pitcher since 1901 to have 12 strikeouts and no more than one walk and one run allowed in one of his first five career starts. One of the pitchers on that list is Ohtani, the man responsible for the walk and run against Misiorowski in that outing.
Misiorowski tied for the most strikeouts through five innings by any pitcher in a game this season, one off the top mark of 13 in the pitch-tracking era.
Freddy Peralta and Jacob Misiorowski have some shared history of excellence
Misiorowski shares the stage with teammate Freddy Peralta, who pitched the Brewers to a victory in the series opener July 7, in a stat from MLB stat guru Sarah Langs. She posted that in the past 125 seasons, only two pitchers had more than 30 strikeouts and 12 or fewer hits allowed in their first five career outings: Misiorowski and Peralta.
Misiorowski thus far has 33 strikeouts and 12 hits allowed. Peralta, who famously had a remarkable debut performance in 2018, had 40 strikeouts and 12 hits allowed in his first five outings.
Brewers rookies are on a roll getting swing-and-miss
Misiorowski shares some magic with other rookies on the current staff, too.
Three of the four highest whiff totals in a single game from a rookie pitcher belong to Brewers, and it’s three different arms. Misiorowski’s 21 swings-and-misses July 8 tied for the most in MLB this year with Jacob Lopez of Oakland.
Logan Henderson’s 20 are next and Chad Patrick’s 19 after that.
Misiorowski is throwing the ball as hard as anyone consistently
Langs had another note on pitchers going 101 miles per hour or greater since pitch tracking began in 2008. Hunter Greene of Cincinnati has thrown the most among starting pitchers in his career, with 141.
Then comes Jacob DeGrom (54), Justin Verlander (52), Yordano Ventura (37), Jordan Hicks (34) and Misiorowski (32).
A reminder that Misiorowski has made just five career starts. And he has the fifth-most 101-plus pitches among starters in pitch-tracking history.
The four pitchers Misiorowski has beaten are all excellent
As if the numbers aren’t crazy enough, consider the four pitchers Misiorowski has beaten in head-to-head matchups for his first four career victories. They are:
— Curt Hogg contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: It’s hard to fathom all these stats from Jacob Misiorowski’s win over the Dodgers on July 8
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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