As September approaches, Jacob Misiorowski has put himself squarely in the mix for a place on one of the Brewers’ shortest and most exclusive lists. Milwaukee’s young right-hander has already made 25 starts in his sophomore season, and he’ll likely add four or five more, depending on how the Brewers handle both their postseason rotation and his workload.
The numbers are impossible to ignore. Misiorowski leads the majors with 222 strikeouts, a 240 ERA+, a 2.14 FIP, a 0.76 WHIP, and a 1.73 ERA.
He’s also tied for fourth in the big leagues with 14 wins. By just about every measure that matters, he’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year.
The only question now is whether those final starts are enough to get him into the National League Cy Young conversation when the MLB award show lands in Las Vegas in mid-November.
If he gets there, he’ll be joining a pretty small club in Brewers history. In 56 years of Milwaukee baseball, only three pitchers have won a Cy Young Award while wearing a Brewers uniform. The franchise was still in the American League when the first two did it, before moving to the National League in 1998.
The first Brewers Cy Young winner was Rollie Fingers, whose number 34 hangs among the retired jerseys at Uecker Field. He arrived in Milwaukee in a blockbuster December 1980 trade from the St.
Louis Cardinals that also brought Ted Simmons, Pete Vuckovich, David Green, Dave LaPoint, Sixto Lezcano, and Lary Sorensen to the Brewers. Even with the 1981 work stoppage, Fingers put together a season that was too good to ignore.
His 28 saves led all of baseball, ahead of Chicago’s Bruce Sutter and his 25, and he didn’t just take home the Cy Young - he also beat Oakland’s Rickey Henderson for American League MVP. Milwaukee made its first postseason appearance that year but lost in five games to the New York Yankees in the ALDS.
Fingers pitched two more seasons after that, missed all of 1983 with forearm tendinitis, and finished his career with 341 saves.
The next year, Vuckovich followed up his fourth-place finish in the 1981 Cy Young race by winning the award himself. He went 18-6 in 1982 and beat out Baltimore’s Jim Palmer and Kansas City’s Dan Quisenberry, even though his peripherals were modest, with a 1.50 WHIP and almost as many walks as strikeouts.
Milwaukee rode that season into an ALCS win over the California Angels, taking the final three games at County Stadium before falling in seven games to the Cardinals in its only World Series appearance. Like Fingers, Vuckovich missed a season - 1984 - and then pitched only 28 games over the next two years before retiring during spring training in 1986.
The Brewers’ most recent Cy Young winner was Corbin Burnes in 2021. After moving into the rotation during the shortened 2020 season, Burnes became one of baseball’s best pitchers from 2021 through 2024.
He made four All-Star teams, picked up down-ballot Cy Young votes four times besides his win, and even got Cy Young votes in 2020 despite making just nine starts among 12 appearances. His 2021 season was elite from top to bottom: a 2.42 ERA, 1.63 FIP, 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings, and 234 strikeouts, all of it leading the majors.
Burnes was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for DL Hall and Joey Ortiz in early 2024, then won 15 games, made the AL All-Star team, and finished fifth in AL Cy Young voting.
There have been plenty of other Brewers pitchers who have shown up on Cy Young ballots over the years. Mike Caldwell was second in 1978 after winning a franchise-record 22 games, logging 293 1/3 innings, six shutouts, 23 complete games, and even one save in three relief appearances.
CC Sabathia’s 2008 run may be the one fans remember most; after arriving in a trade from the Cleveland Indians, he finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting and went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA over 17 starts in the final three months, helping push Milwaukee to the postseason for the first time since 1982. But the heavy workload caught up to him, and he lasted only three and two-thirds innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the NLDS, a 5-2 loss.
Other Brewers pitchers to earn Cy Young votes include Freddy Peralta (2025), Josh Hader (2018), Jimmy Nelson (2017), Yovani Gallardo (2011), John Axford (2011), Ben Sheets (2004), Teddy Higuera (1986, 1987), and Jim Colborn (1973).
In Other News...
Abner Uribes Rehab Stop Turned Into A Brewers-Farm Moment Fans Loved
Abner Uribes rehab stop turned into one of those minor-league nights that feels bigger than the box score. On Bratoberfest theme night at the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Brewers reliever took the field in a special Brats jersey as part of his assignment, fitting right into an event built around German heritage and the kind of offbeat charm that makes affiliate baseball a unique part of the Milwaukee pipeline.
The jersey is now part of a larger auction tied to the night, with the game-worn tops from the event set to benefit the Timber Rattlers charitable efforts. For Brewers fans, it was a small but memorable reminder that rehab appearances can still produce moments worth following, especially when they come wrapped in the local flavor and community angle that minor-league baseball does so well. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Face A Risky Power Debate They Cant Ignore
The Brewers have spent most of the season proving there is more than one way to build a winning lineup, sitting atop baseballs standings while ranking near the bottom in home runs. That reality has made every potential power upgrade feel a little more complicated than it might for another contender, especially with the club having already explored the idea of adding Eugenio Surez before he slipped through on waivers.
Now Milwaukee is weighing another possible swing at offense, with Luis Robert Jr. available on outright waivers from the Mets. Robert brings the kind of blend of power, speed and defense that can change a rosters ceiling in a hurry, but his health history and the Brewers own outfield depth make this a harder call than a simple talent grab. For a team that has won plenty without the long ball, the question is whether this is the kind of risk that fits the race it is trying to run. [Read more 🡒]
Chourios Breakout Season Just Reached Another Level For The Brewers
Christian Yelich has been the steadying presence in Milwaukee for years, but Christian Chourio is starting to push the Brewers lineup into a different conversation. His latest homer against the Rangers was the 20th of his season, another marker in a year that has already become the best of his young career and a reminder that his power is no longer a future projection. For a player still early in his big league journey, the consistency of the production has begun to look less like a hot streak and more like a standard.
What makes the season even more striking is the way Chourio had to climb into it. He missed the first month after suffering a fractured bone in his left middle finger while playing for Team Venezuela, and yet he has still reached a level usually reserved for the sports most established young stars. The Brewers have seen plenty from him already, but this version of Chourio adds another layer of danger to a lineup that can use every bit of it. [Read more 🡒]