After 15 Ks, safe to say the Phillies won’t be questioning Jacob Misiorowski anymore

As Jacob Misiorowski faced off with the Philadelphia Phillies – who publicly decried Jacob after his stunning All-Star Game selection last season – the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander and his teammates swore there wasn’t any added venom behind his fastballs on June 12 at American Family Field. 

Try telling that to the radar gun. 

Misiorowski looked like a man on a mission – even the aw-shucks smiles from his locker postgame tried saying otherwis.e 

The 24-year-old flamethrower incinerated the Phillies over a one-hit shutout in a Brewers’ 6-0 win, coming within one base runner of a perfect game and recording the most strikeouts ever (15) in a shutout of fewer than 100 pitches – colloquially referred to as a “Maddux”. 

Misiorowski reached back for 104.5 mph, the fastest tracked pitch by a starting pitcher ever, and surpassed 103 mph three times against the final batter of his masterpiece.

Aside from a Kyle Schwarber single to lead off the fourth, it was, in a reversal of last July’s proceedings through the press, a bully stomping on innocent prey.

“What a joke,” is what Phillies shortstop Trea Turner told The Athletic nearly a calendar year ago when news came out that Misiorowski was going to play in the All-Star Game despite just five career outings. “That’s f—ing terrible. I mean that’s terrible, dude.” 

“It’s turning into the Savannah Bananas,” said Nick Castellanos. 

The motive for the Phillies’ comments was to defend their teammate, Cristopher Sánchez. The left-hander Sánchez was having a stellar year at the time and went on to finish second in Cy Young voting, but was passed over on the initial all-star selections. When MLB offered him a spot in the game under the condition he would be available to pitch two days after his final scheduled start of the first half, he declined. 

Misiorowski, though, was caught by the stray blows emanating from Philadelphia’s clubhouse simply for accepting the commissioner’s invitation. The veterans on the Phillies felt his nod cheapened the honor that comes with making the midsummer classic. 

But the only joke at American Family Field this time were the feeble attempts to make contact with Misiorowski’s heat that registered well north of triple digits all night. 

Banana Ball? Nope. This was just plain bananas.

Misiorowski against the Phillies continued his conquest to do things never seen before on a diamond.

He averaged 101.7 mph with his fastball, which got 23 whiffs, the second most on any pitch in a game in the pitch tracking era (since 2008). He reached 100 mph 58 times, besting the previous record – set by himself, of course – of 57. 

It was, to put it deftly, one of the greatest pitching performances in baseball history. 

Misiorowski has shown a knack early in his career – this start came on the one-year anniversary of his debut – for rising to the moment, but he denied having any extra ammo for the Phillies. 

“To be honest it’s about the same as the Yankees, Dodgers,” Misiorowski said. “Any of those big market teams, you always want to throw well against them. 

Catcher William Contreras echoed the sentiment. 

“That’s just another Miz performance,” he said. “I don’t think anyone’s paying any mind to that. I didn’t even have any idea of any of that going into the game. Wasn’t paying attention to that. He’s going out there doing what he can to show he deserves to be in the All-Star Game again.” 

Whether you believe that or not, a second All-Star nod is surely coming to Misiorowski, who leads all pitchers in earned run average, strikeouts, batting average against and WHIP. 

The Phillies will probably remain hush about this one.