Jacob Misiorowski Is On Pace for Some Truly Mind-Bending Marks

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Nobody in baseball history has thrown a baseball like Jacob Misiorowski: a 6’7” starter who let the ball go 7 ½ feet from in front of the rubber, creating an unprecedented perceived velocity of 103 mph on average. His record perceived velocity is 107.8 mph. That’s unheard of.

That’s why Misiorowski and the Brewers deserve credit for getting him to the final 30 games of the regular season with a full tank of gas. Misiorowski’s offseason work to add strength and mass to his legs is paying off. And Milwaukee has pitched him only three times on four days of rest, all before the All-Star break. They have allowed him to throw 100 pitches only three times, none more than 107.

More subtly, Misiorowski has learned one of the most important lessons for an elite power pitcher to stay healthy. He is adept at modulating his velocity. Looking at Misiorowski’s fastball velocity by the number of strikes, you see how he keeps the top-line velocity in reserve for when he needs it:

Misiorowski Fastball by Count

Count	MPH	Opponents’ BA
0 Strikes	100.3	.353
1 Strike	100.5	.278
2 Strikes	101.2	.201

Misiorowski is putting together one of the greatest, most dominant pitching seasons of the modern game, right up there with Pedro Martinez’s iconic 2000 season in a more dangerous hitting environment. Misiorowski is on track to become the first pitcher with a sub-2 ERA and 12 or more strikeouts per nine innings.

Highest K/9 Rate with Sub-2 ERA (Live Ball Era, min. 24 GS)

Pitcher	K/9
1. Jacob Misiorowski, 2026	13.4
2. Pedro Martinez, 2000	11.8
3. Pedro Martinez, 1997	11.4
4. Jacob deGrom, 2018	11.2
5. Blake Snell, 2018	11.0

Highest K:BB Rate with Sub-2 ERA (Live Ball Era, min. 24 GS)

Pitcher	K:BB
1. Pedro Martinez, 2000	8.88
2. Greg Maddux, 1995	7.87
3. Clayton Kershaw, 2014	7.71
4. Jacob Misiorowski, 2026	6.55
5. Justin Verlander, 2022	6.38

Still not convinced the Miz is having an all-time great season? Don’t worry. There is more:

He has held left-handed batters to a .117 batting average, the lowest ever (min. 300 batters faced).
Hitters with runners in scoring position are hitting .063 against his fastball (2-for-32).
His elevated fastball is almost unhittable. Of the 578 high fastballs he has thrown (three feet or more off the ground), Misiorowski has allowed a .104 batting average on 11 hits, just one for extra bases (a double).
He gets better the deeper he gets into a game. Misiorowski has held hitters to a .126 average when they see him for a third time, the second-best mark ever (Blake Snell, .121 in 2023).

The Nationals’ Breakout Elite Arm

Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli — Cade Cavalli is one of just two pitchers, along with Miami’s Sandy Alcantara, to start 28 games this year. | Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Cade Cavalli, 28, might not be a household name, except in the households of orthopedists who saw plenty of him the past few years. But few pitchers in baseball are throwing the ball as well as the Washington righthander. Finally healthy, he has posted 27 times and hung a 3.22 ERA to go along with an 11–5 record.

Cavalli is the modern deep arsenal pitcher with elite velo and spin: three fastballs that sit between 93–98, two breaking pitches that rank in the 97th percentile of run value and a changeup to keep lefties honest. Cavalli is coming off two consecutive starts in which he allowed no runs with double-digit strikeouts.

“Cavalli, in my opinion, might've been the best pitcher I've seen all year,” Schumaker said. “As far as what this guy is right now, it is filth. His stuff is crazy good.”

Cavalli is a former first-round pick out of Oklahoma who blew out his elbow chasing velocity and induced vertical break, as those metrics became the darlings of the pitching lab era.

A natural supinator, he veered away from chasing vert and went back to his natural hand position, producing cut-ride on his fastball and nasty spin on his breaking pitches. He ditched the hands-over-the-head full windup in favor of a modified stretch with his hands at the belt.

Cavalli’s assorted injuries allowed him to throw only 355 innings across his first six years in pro ball (2020–25). Finally healthy and having learned a lesson trying to be a pitcher type that did not suit his natural throwing motion, Cavalli is showing front-of-the-rotation stuff.

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