With the 2026 NL Cy Young Award set to be awarded on November 11, we take a look at the breakout season of Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski.

The 2025 campaign was a whirlwind for Jacob Misiorowski. He showed velocity rarely seen before and made the NL All-Star team after just three weeks of MLB experience. But Misiorowski, who wasn’t in the Brewers’ playoff rotation in 2025, had something to prove in 2026. He did, in a campaign that earned him a World Series ring, and likely, the 2026 NL Cy Young.

Blowaway stuff

It probably doesn’t need to be stated but we might as well: Jacob Misiorowski had the most powerful fastball in MLB. You’re probably not shocked by that. But let’s go through some of these numbers, starting with this:

Yes, Misiorowski even beat Mason Miller in terms of four-seam fastball Whiff%. Misiorowski was the only pitcher who had a Whiff% of over 40% on the fastball, a number almost inconceivable. Even some of baseball’s best velocity pitchers can’t put up those numbers, and there are reasons for that.

For Misiorowski, the right-hander’s fastball is simply so explosive. A combination of extension, backspin, and pure velocity makes it hard to pick up, and it speeds up on hitters on a dime.

Now, one conversation point that popped up was how comfortable Misiorowski was in Milwaukee — and how the velocity ticked down a notch outside those confines. To be fair, it wasn’t much. Between the regular season and postseason, Misiorowski’s average fastball was 100.7 MPH at home. Only just 100.5 MPH on the road (yes, that’s sarcasm).

His peak velocities were achieved at American Family Field; that is fair to state.

But not just with the fastball

Take a look at this graph:

This is the month-by-month Whiff% for Misiorowski for all of these pitches, going through the playoffs. We’ll get to the dip in October in the next section. But before then, we need to go over the other stuff in that pitch mix.

For a pitcher like Misiorowski, having good secondary stuff only accentuated the fastball. Hitters have to respect the heat. There’s no denying that. But possessing the stuff to play off it can spin the heads off hitters.

The curveball, a high-80s offering, was used in concert with the fastball. Sure, Misiorowski did use it in consecutive pitches, as well as a first-pitch offering. But more often than not, it followed a fastball. Out of the 68 swings-and-misses that came off that pitch this season, 37 were preceded by a fastball.

Those numbers looked more of the same with the slider. Misiorowski had 64 whiffs off the slider in total, and 30 were directly preceded by a fastball.

In a sense, it’s textbook, right? Go with the fastball, and then set up the breaking ball. It is, and it fits the numbers that we’ve gone over with some of the other breakout pitchers from 2026, and how those hurlers sequenced with their top stuff.

But there are other elements at play: command and feel are important, too.

Misiorowski’s command was a major question mark during his Minor League career. But given how well his stuff played, and how few walks (2.3) he allowed, Misiorowski changed the conversation around his future quickly.

Getting outs in a different way

Where things got complicated was in the playoffs.

His 21% Whiff% in the playoffs was well below where Misiorowski was during the regular season. Misiorowski had to fight it in some appearances, as the right-hander didn’t go five innings in either of his two starts in the NLDS & NLCS. In his lone start against the Dodgers, he walked three in 4.1 IP, although he struck out five and allowed five hits.

However, Misiorowski didn’t have a bad playoff run whatsoever. While the advanced competition was more patient with him, Misiorowski had a CSW% of almost 29%. He was still able to knock the zone and pick up strikes.

Additionally, Misiorowski didn’t allow much hard contact at all.

The top dog

After the year Misiorowski had, it’s hard to consider anyone else better than him presently in the Majors. He did it all in the regular season, and won two games in the World Series to establish himself as the true ace of baseball.

Keep this in mind: the Brewers have him under control for another five years. If he holds up, the Brewers could make a few more deep runs with the new ace in Milwaukee.

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