Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski added to MLB All-Star Game after 5 career starts
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Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski added to MLB All-Star Game after 5 career starts
Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski received his first career All-Star selection on Friday. He will replace Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, who is scheduled to pitch on Saturday and bowed out of the Midsummer Classic. With only five starts under his belt, it’s the fewest career appearances any All- Star has ever made going into the game. He has outdueled both Skenes and Clayton Kershaw, throwing 12 strikeouts in six innings in the latter start. The decision from MLB is bound to be controversial. People who appreciate ridiculous pitching will enjoy it. Casual fans will be curious. Fans of other teams, with their own All-Stars candidates, will be peeved. The guys who have to face him on a national stage might be the angriest of them all.
Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who has looked electric in the first month of his career, received his first career All-Star selection on Friday. With only five starts under his belt, it’s the fewest career appearances any All-Star has ever made going into the game.
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For perspective, Pittsburgh Pirates star Paul Skenes previously held that record with 11 games going into the All-Star break last season.
Misiorowski will replace Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, who is scheduled to pitch on Saturday and bowed out of the Midsummer Classic.
The decision from MLB is bound to be controversial. The Brewers and their fans will love it. People who appreciate ridiculous pitching will enjoy it. Casual fans will be curious. Fans of other teams, with their own All-Star candidates, will be peeved. Those candidates might be furious. The guys who have to face Misiorowski on a national stage might be the angriest of them all.
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Of course there’s a reason MLB is doing this.
Jacob Misiorowski looks like one of the most electric pitchers MLB has ever seen
Across those five starts, Misiorowski has flashed the kind of overpowering pitching talent some fans go their entire lives without seeing on their own team.
It’s not just that his fastball averages 99.3 mph and regularly hits triple digits. With a lanky 6-foot-7 frame, he also releases the ball closer to home plate than nearly any other pitcher, erasing vital milliseconds for hitters to see what’s coming. It gets even more dire when his slider averages 94.4 mph and his changeup averages 92.2 mph.
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In his first career MLB start, Misiorowski threw six hitless innings before exiting with cramping issues. In his second start, he threw six more no-hit innings before finally allowing a hit. He has outdueled both Skenes and Clayton Kershaw, throwing 12 strikeouts in six innings in the latter start.
In those five starts, he has posted 33 strikeouts, while allowing 12 hits and eight runs. There is little reason to think he slows down outside of injury. When he enters the All-Star Game, it will be worth watching.
Here are the pitchers who could have made the All-Star Game instead of Jacob Misiorowski
It’s important to remember that the All-Star Game is an exhibition at heart. The whole point of the game is to assemble all the players that fans could want to see and have them play a game that (usually) doesn’t count. It’s supposed to be fun.
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That said, the All-Star Game is also a barometer used to evaluate careers and recognize the game’s best players. MLB wants fans to care about it. A selection like Misiorowski is completely unprecedented, and that’s going to leave more than a few players wondering why the kid with five starts got to the game instead of them.
We’re just going to list just some of the 34 (!) pitchers in the NL who have thrown more innings than Misiorowski with a better ERA via Baseball Reference, with special recognition for Cristopher Sánchez, whose resume is better than even some pitchers already on the NL roster.
There are also pitchers like Nick Pivetta, Spencer Schwellenbach and David Peterson, who have all thrown more than 100 innings with ERAs hovering around 3.00. Clearly, Misiorowski’s selection is about raw talent over production.
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We’ll leave it up to you to decide whom you would rather see in the game.