Jacob Misiorowski has turned this season into a showcase of power, precision and pure weirdness in the best possible way. The 24-year-old right-hander hasn’t just been pumping 100 mph heat; he’s stacked up a line of numbers that looks almost unreal, the kind of run that keeps rewriting what a starter can do.
Start with the velocity, because that’s where the jaw-dropping stuff begins. Misiorowski enters Sunday with 1,053 pitches of at least 100 mph this season, the most by any pitcher in a single campaign under pitch tracking, which began in 2008.
The previous high belonged to Jordan Hicks, who had 673 in 2018. No other team has come close to what the Brewers have done here; this year’s Padres are second with 688 entering Saturday.
And it’s not just the raw number of triple-digit pitches. Misiorowski has taken over the strikeout leaderboard, too.
Before this season, the fastest strikeout by a starting pitcher under pitch tracking was 102.6 mph by Tarik Skubal on May 25, 2025. Misiorowski now owns each of the top 41 spots on that list, including seven strikeouts on pitches at 104+ mph.
That’s the kind of territory usually reserved for the hardest-throwing relievers, and even there it’s rare: only six other pitchers have recorded a 104+ mph strikeout under tracking, all in relief - Aroldis Chapman, Mason Miller, Ben Joyce, Jhoan Duran, Hicks and Mauricio Cabrera.
The single-game numbers get even louder. Misiorowski threw a 105.5 mph pitch on June 26, the fastest by a starter and tied for the third-fastest by anyone under tracking.
He’s also set records for the most 100-plus mph pitches in a game with 66 on July 26, plus 63 at 101+, 54 at 102+ and 33 at 103+. On June 12, he piled up 12 strikeouts on pitches at 100+ mph, three more than anyone else has ever done in a game under tracking.
For all the heat, though, the broader production is what makes this season feel historic. Misiorowski leads MLB in strikeouts with 243, in ERA at 1.89 and in opponents’ batting average at .160.
Since 1950, only three pitchers have finished a season leading MLB in all three of those categories, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: Mike Scott in 1986, J.R. Richard in 1976 and Sandy Koufax in 1965.
Misiorowski still has time left to add his name to that short list.
That .160 opponents’ batting average deserves its own spotlight. If it holds, it would be the lowest by a pitcher in a qualified season, excluding significantly shortened seasons, topping Pedro Martínez’s .167 from his 2000 masterpiece.
And even when you account for the offense-friendly difference between eras, Misiorowski still stacks up near the top. Using AVG+, which works like OPS+ by comparing performance to league average, he’s at 66 AVG+, meaning opponents have hit 34% better than league average against him.
That would put him tied for second with Nolan Ryan in 1991, behind only Martínez’s 61 in 2000.
Then there’s the WHIP. Misiorowski leads all qualified pitchers with a 0.81 mark.
It wouldn’t be a record, but it would place him in rare company. Among qualified pitchers in the Live Ball Era, only Martínez’s 0.74 in 2000, Justin Verlander’s 0.80 in 2019 and Greg Maddux’s 0.81 in 1995 have been better, with Verlander’s 0.83 in 2022 and Dave McNally’s 0.84 in 1968 sitting just behind that group.
Age makes the season even more striking. Misiorowski will be 24 years and 177 days old next Sunday, the final day of the regular season.
If he finishes leading qualified pitchers in both ERA and strikeouts, he’d become the third-youngest pitcher to do that since earned runs became an official stat in 1913. Only Dwight Gooden in 1985 and Hal Newhouser in 1945 were younger.
He’s also done this while limiting damage in a way that fits the whole profile. Misiorowski has allowed just 24 extra-base hits while striking out 243 batters. That would be the fewest extra-base hits allowed by any pitcher with at least 240 strikeouts in a season in MLB history.
And then comes the award conversation. The National League Cy Young Award won’t be decided until November, but Misiorowski has already put together a serious case.
This is only the second season of his career. No pitcher has ever won in his debut season, while five second-year pitchers have taken home the award: 2025 Paul Skenes, 2008 Tim Lincecum, 1985 Bret Saberhagen, 1985 Gooden and 1981 Fernando Valenzuela, who was a rookie.
With AL favorite Cam Schlittler also in his second season, 2026 could join 1985 as a year with two second-year Cy Young winners.
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