June 12: The Brewers announced today that they’ve formally selected Misiorowski’s contract. He’ll start tonight’s game. Righty Easton McGee was optioned to Triple-A in his place, while Woodruff was indeed moved to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man spot.
June 10: The Brewers are calling up pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The righty will start Thursday’s game against the Cardinals. Milwaukee will need to make room for him on the active and 40-man rosters. The latter should be as easy as Brandon Woodruff being transferred to the 60-day injured list since he’s already been out longer than that.
Misiorowski, 23, is one of the top prospects in baseball. The Brewers selected him with a second-round pick in the 2022 draft and signed him with a $2.35MM bonus, more than double the $1.1MM slot value for that pick.
Since then, he has been climbing the ladder with very exciting results. His fastball sits in the high-90s and can get into triple digits. He also has a curveball, slider and a lesser-used changeup. Those pitches have helped him strike out a lot of opponents though control is clearly still a work in progress.
He got a brief professional debut in 2022, making just two Single-A appearances. In 2023, he logged 71 1/3 innings while climbing as high as Double-A. He posted a 3.41 earned run average while punching out 35% of hitters, but he also gave out free passes at a high rate of 13.4%. Last year, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, logging 97 1/3 innings. The Brewers moved him to a relief role late in the year as a way of monitoring his workload. He had a 3.33 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate and 14.4% walk rate.
The numbers have been similar this year. He has logged 63 1/3 Triple-A innings thus far with a 2.13 ERA and 31.6% strikeout rate. His 12.3% walk rate is an improvement for him but still about four ticks above typical major league average, which is 8% for starters this year.
Misiorowski still has some things to work on, particularly the control and the workload, but the arsenal is clearly exciting. Baseball America currently lists him as the #21 prospect in the league. FanGraphs has him at #27. ESPN’s most recent update put him at #30. Baseball Prospectus had him at #65 in the offseason. MLB Pipeline currently has him further down at #68, with a bit more concern that the control issues will eventually push him to the bullpen. Keith of Law of The Athletic had similar concerns when giving Misiorowski the #87 slot coming into the year.
Time will tell if Misiorowski is destined for the bullpen or can stick in the rotation but it’s understandable that the Brewers will keep trying the starting path until they get some clarity. There’s simply far more value in an excellent starting pitcher compared to an excellent reliever. Even if it doesn’t work out, the bullpen path will still be available as a fallback. Even Law, the most bearish of those prospect evaluators, believes Misiorowski has a future as an elite closer.
For now, the Brewers will see if Misiorowski can evolve into a big league starter. The rotation has been constantly shifting for Milwaukee this year, mostly due to injuries. Woodruff was expected to start the season on the injured list, recovering from last year’s shoulder surgery, but his rehab has also hit a few snags. He battled some ankle tendinitis and also suffered an elbow contusion from a comebacker and is still likely a few weeks away. Robert Gasser had Tommy John surgery last summer and is another guy the club knew would be on the IL to start this year.
In addition to Woodruff and Gasser, several other pitchers have missed some time. Nestor Cortes is still on the shelf, having suffered a flexor strain back in April. Tobias Myers missed time due to an oblique strain. Aaron Civale had a hamstring strain, Jose Quintana a shoulder impingement and DL Hall a lat strain.
Around all those transactions, the club has been trying to find various solutions. Quintana was a spring signing. The Brewers traded for Quinn Priester a week into April. Several minor leaguers have been called up. As the club has been spinning those plates, 12 different pitchers have started for the team already this year. Some of those have been openers, but it’s clearly been a bit of a whirlwind.
As of this moment, the rotation consists of Freddy Peralta, Civale, Priester, Quintana and Chad Patrick, with Hall doing some starting but also some long relief work. It’s not totally clear what the club plans to shift with Misiorowski’s promotion. It could simply be a spot start. Perhaps they will go with a six-man rotation for a while. Priester and Patrick both have options and could be sent down, though Patrick’s numbers this year have been far better than Priester’s.
The Brewers are still in the playoff race. Their 35-32 record currently has them just three games back of the final National League Wild Card spot. Regardless of how they perform over the next few weeks, it’s possible to imagine them trading some starting pitching this summer. Woodruff, Quintana, Civale and Cortes are all impending free agents, which would make them logical trade chips. A bolder move would be Peralta, who can be controlled through 2026 via an $8MM club option.
Sending one or more of them out of town would theoretically downgrade this year’s rotation but the Brewers could perhaps provide replacements from within the system while bolstering another part of the roster or simply adding some prospect talent. Hall could be given a more proper rotation gig. Gasser could get back in the mix later in the year. Myers, Logan Henderson and other arms are in Triple-A and could be recalled.
The Brewers don’t have a lot of spending capacity, so this kind of tough balancing act is normal for them. Recent years have seen them trade away guys like Josh Hader and Corbin Burnes while still trying to field a competitive team. Those trades usually see them targeting a mix of MLB-ready talent and prospects or draft picks. Given the number of rotation options they have in the mix now, another move of that nature may be in the cards this summer.
That will be a situation for the next few weeks. For now, one of the most electric arms in the minor leagues is coming up to the show. As a consensus top prospect, Misiorowski is eligible for the prospect promotion incentives. The Brewers can’t earn an extra draft pick based on his performance in awards voting this year because they didn’t call him up early enough. Misiorowski can earn himself a full year of service time if he finishes in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting, though that will be a long shot. The race is still fairly wide open but Misiorowski is getting called up late and is already near his personal high in innings pitched in a season, so it’s possible the club eases off his workload at some point later in the year.
Photo courtesy of Dave Kallmann, Imagn Images
Ashby needs to start or close if healthy.
Ashby has thrived in the bullpen and can provide multiple innings. He will most likely remain in that role for 2025 and get stretched out to start in 2026.
He’s more likely a closer than a starter. I think/hope the starter experiment is done for him.
Sweet!!! A new guy for us to hate! Excting
🤷♂️
Ashby has like 4 or 5 pitches and if he can locate them and thrown strikes he’ll eventually wind up in the rotation
I dont think its skill holding him back from starting, its longevity and injury history.
That’s what we said like 4 years ago.
He’s having a nice season so far in Triple A. Good luck young man!
I’ve heard he’s underrated. Is this true?
I think so, but he’s pretty highly regarded at this point I think.
Guy hits 103-104. As long as he can keep it over the plate, he’ll be fine
Hopefully even though he can hit that, he don’t do it often. Vary those speeds in the bigs, you can’t throw it past everyone there like in the minors, and if it’s straight, you are in trouble.
Hopefully, just a spot start or two. When walking batters at that high a rate, it should be pretty apparent that he’s not yet ready. He needs to learn how to harness his stuff in the minors.
Walking 4.4 per 9 innings this year. Down from 5.3 last season split between AA and AAA. I know 4.4 is not ideal, but “he’s not doing them any good in AAA” is fair for a team trying to stay in the playoff chase.
You know, at 100+ he’s striking out his share of batters to reduce the impact of a single walk in an inning. Brewers have lived with Peralta being a pitch count-to inning nightmare. Miserioski is putting up 5 innings or more still like Freddy.
Why would a team prefer to relegate a pitcher who lacks control to the bullpen rather than keep hm in the starting rotation?
They need to trade Civale and Quintana go with a rotation of Peralta, Mizo, Henderson, Patrick , Ashby or Hall until Woodruff is back.
lol
Wow 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’m looking forward to what this guy can do. I think has a chance to be real good
He sounds a bit like Dylan Cease with the really good stuff, but high walk rates that make him inefficient as far as elevated pitch counts early. Cease is still like that from year to year.
Do the brewers have any hitters they can promote? Ortiz, Durbin, Collins and bauers are not major league hitters
Tyler Black is a good bat.
Need to give him a shot at third , move Durbin to second and Turang to short.
I’m not mentally throwing off a guy in Turang who is the best defensive 2nd baseman in the league and having a career year behind the plate just to satisfy Caleb Durbin.
Turang refused SS during Spring Training.
Well first off Turang will transition to short just fine he wants back at short because his hitting has come around and moving back to short will set him up for a payday when he hits free agency which he will because in 2 years our infield will be Pena, Made and Pratt. Third may be good for Conteras for healing his hand. Plus he can call the game from third with Quero catching
He didnt refuse it but he immediately hurt his arm putting a little more mustard on the throws necessary for that position.
A few thoughts regarding Stubby’s post.
1. How do you know Turang “wants back at short? I haven’t seen or heard that. Honest question. Do you have a source?
2. Contreras at 3rd? Am I understanding that you want to move the catcher to 3rd base? Has he even played there before?
3. How is he going to call the game from there? How will he know what his pitcher has or doesn’t have?
This isn’t a video game…is it?
You are so out of touch its actually impressive
If he’s getting gold gloves at 2nd base he’s going to still get paid just from there being less quality 2nd basemen available vs SS.
When I seen Turang’s OPS yesterday it was below 700 again. If that’s what you call hitting is back? I dunno what to say. Definitely down from 1 month ago.
Black has been splitting time between 1b/lf in the AZ league and should be on a rehab assignment in the near future.
ACL Brewers ARE the rehab assignment. He will probably be back on his regular assignment as a AAAA player at Nashville later this week
Agreed, barring some crazy breakout, Black is looking AAAA. He got his shots and couldn’t quite take advantage- nothing to hang his head over.
57 career major league plate appearances is “getting your shots”?
He was called up several times and didn’t make an impression in any of them. Just the way it goes.
Sent June 6th.
a good minor league bat. two years ago
Nope. Theyre a year or two away. Chourio, Yelich, Contreres, Hoskins, and to a lesser extent Turang and Frelick, and then eventually Perkins and Mitchell all need to start pulling their weight.
Also, 6 of the brewers top 30 prospects are 1b (5 lh)
Sry forgot about Brock Wilken
Hes not close to a call up. At least a year away.
Wilken is struggling in double-a biloxi.
he leads the southern league in HRs and RBI with 15 and 35. He has an .876 OPS, which is due in part to a high walk rate, but Idk if I’d say thats struggling
leading the league in HRs and RBI with a 900 OPS
do NOT disrespect DIII Washington University legend Caleb Durbin like that again
Collins and Bauers are having decent offensive seasons, actually. Durbin is a rookie and will need time to acclimate. Ortiz was focused on the work needed to man SS and that has cost him offensively. I suspect Ortiz will be closer to his average offensive numbers as the season progresses.
Ortiz stunk the second half last year while playing 3b. Maybe he is just not a starting infielder offensively
The younger 2 of Made and Pratt is an, at best, next year opening day. Brock Wilken isn’t likely to maintain a BA above 200. Might get 10HRs or more though. Tyler Black just recently sent on rehab assignment, but he seems destined to be Keston Hiura part 2 without the brief rookie season success. Garrett Mitchell exists to be available maybe 50 games a season. The work they have to do managing 40 man and 26man is remarkable the team is above .500. And they must be near top in facing Opponents above .500 on the season.
Mitchell had a significant set-back in his rehab and is out until July. Would anticipate him being transferred to the 60-day IL retroactive to late April.
Imagine how good (and cheap) the Brewers staff would be if they didn’t let Shane Smith walk in the Rule 5 draft in favor of picking up Connor Thomas. For a team that is on top of advanced pitching metrics, a completely surprising lapse of judgement on that one…
thats not exactly how that transaction played out. It was more like Tyler Jay instead of Shane Smith. Smith also learned the kick change from Chicago, that was not part of his arsenal with MKE
I get what you’re saying, but the White Sox changed up his pitches and even they were surprised at the results. Had the Brewers pitching lab seen it, they’d have made those adjustments themselves. Just a miss here. It happens, but yeah it would have been nice!
The new Fastball Freddy. Peralta struggles with his pitch counts to complete 6 innings. Think we see actual piggyback rotation with Brewers Staff. Get 4-5 innings from 2 players each. Miserioski will be a great addition on that strategy. Good luck to him.
Logan Henderson is a big league starter
oneil cruz doesnt think so. But i think so i agree
Nobody will bite on Brandon Woodruff because he can’t seem to get healthy.
The comebacker into his pitching elbow isnt his fault, but yeah he wasnt getting that velo back. I’m a big fan but until he’s back pitching in the bigs, I dont really believe it will happen. At least not this year.
hes gonna be a beast