Jacob Misiorowski’s rough night at Wrigley Field didn’t come out of nowhere.
For weeks, there have been signs that the Brewers’ flamethrowing right-hander wasn’t quite operating at the same level. Nearly a month ago, concern started building around a noticeable dip in his fastball velocity. At the same time, he was leaning on his second and third pitches more than he ever had before in his career.
The results kept rolling for a while anyway. In his next two outings, the trend continued, the velocity kept slipping, and Misiorowski still stacked up three straight wins against very strong lineups.
But Wednesday night brought the first real crack in the armor. For the first time all season, he got hit hard.
That’s why the latest outing feels less like a one-off and more like the end point of a pattern that deserves a closer look.
Misiorowski pointed to the conditions at Wrigley as the main issue. The weather was nasty, and he said the environment made it hard to get comfortable on the mound.
“I didn’t feel wonderful, didn’t feel great,” Misiorowski said. “Obviously it felt soggy the whole time.
The weather played a factor in that, so I lost grip. I had to make it work.”
He also said the mound itself gave him problems. The 6-foot-7 pitcher has long dealt with flying over his landing strip, and the wet clay only made that issue more pronounced on his landing leg.
“You start second-guessing everything,” Misiorowski said. “You start trying to make pitches too big and start trying to make things too spot-on. You have to calm yourself down and figure out a way to get through it.”
Maybe there’s a temptation to shrug it off as just a bad night in bad weather. But the bigger picture is harder to ignore. Misiorowski has now had trouble in each of his last five outings, and even that comes with a major caveat: a struggling Misiorowski is still better than every other pitcher on Earth.
Still, this feels like fatigue is creeping in on the 24-year-old as he finds out, for the first time, what a full Major League Baseball season does to the body.
In Other News...
Brewers Bullpen Turnover Takes Another Interesting Late-Season Turn
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San Francisco is bringing him in with a clear immediate role in low-leverage situations, but the move also gives Kuhnel a chance to stick beyond the final stretch if he handles it well. For Milwaukee, it is another reminder of how quickly late-season relief depth can turn over, especially when clubs are constantly trying to find usable innings without losing flexibility elsewhere on the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Took A Quiet Bullpen Hit After The Cubs Series
The Brewers bullpen depth took a small hit after their series with the Cubs, with right-hander Joel Kuhnel being claimed off waivers by the Giants. Kuhnel had been working his way back through a minor league rehab assignment before Milwaukee designated him for assignment, and the move opens another spot in a relief group that has already had to stay flexible as the season wears on.
San Francisco is bringing Kuhnel in for the rest of the year as an extra arm, and the Brewers now have to sort through the ripple effect of losing a pitcher who was at least in the mix. He had a 4.84 ERA with 22 strikeouts this season, but for Milwaukee the bigger issue is less the numbers than the fact that another depth option is gone at a time when every bullpen inning matters. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Face A Real Jake Bauers Problem This Offseason
The Brewers are heading into the offseason with another important call to make on Jake Bauers, whose strong season has put him squarely in the middle of their roster planning. Milwaukee would like to keep the first baseman-outfielder in the mix, but because he is on track for free agency, the front office has to weigh whether to extend a qualifying offer and try to preserve its leverage.
Jake Bauers performance has also made this a tougher market than it might have been a year ago. If Milwaukee does make that offer, he could still decide to test free agency in search of a richer deal, and there should be no shortage of interest from other clubs looking for a productive bat. For the Brewers, it is one of those offseason decisions that sounds simple on paper but can shape the shape of the roster well beyond the winter meetings. [Read more 🡒]