MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy says the team plans to keep a close eye on Jacob Misiorowski’s pitch count and workload as the club returns from the All-Star break.
That approach was on full display Monday night.
Misiorowski took the mound for just four innings as Milwaukee topped the New York Mets 8-3, marking his first outing since a seven-inning performance in a July 7 win at St. Louis. The team had pulled him from a scheduled July 12 start in Pittsburgh because of arm fatigue, and he sat out the All-Star Game last week even though he had earned a spot on the roster for the second consecutive year.
“I think we take that as kind of a reset,” Murphy said ahead of Monday’s game. “Now I think we have to build him back up and make sure that we are mindful of it.”
In his four innings of work, Misiorowski recorded six strikeouts while giving up just one unearned run on four hits and a walk. Of his 65 total pitches, 26 were clocked at 100 mph or faster, with his top speed reaching 104 mph on a first-inning fastball to Juan Soto. He hit 102 mph on 12 separate pitches, though nearly all of those came in the opening frame.
After the game, Murphy clarified that the decision to limit Misiorowski to four innings wasn’t purely about protecting his arm. He described it as “just being mindful of when a guy’s not right.”
“We would have probably let him go further if his delivery and his legs felt great,” Murphy said. “I think he was a little bit out of it. The long layoff kind of affected his delivery and everything else. I think it was important to notice that and get him out of there then. The velo dropped. He couldn’t find the rhythm on his heater and went to off-speed stuff.”
Misiorowski himself admitted the layoff made things harder than usual on Monday.
“Of course,” he said. “I felt like I wasn’t in my legs as well as I should have been, but I felt halfway decent. Good enough.”
The organization has every reason to treat their ace with care as he works through his first complete season at the major league level.
Misiorowski has already logged 115 innings this season. For context, his entire workload last year — combining regular-season time in both the majors and minors along with 12 postseason innings during Milwaukee’s run to the NL Championship Series — totaled 141 and one-third innings.
Milwaukee sits at 63-37, the best record in all of baseball, and holds a six-game cushion over the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. Misiorowski has been the sport’s standout pitcher this year, and the team’s hopes for a deep playoff run are closely tied to keeping him healthy and sharp.
Over his last 13 starts, Misiorowski has held opponents scoreless in eight of them, going 9-2 with a 0.87 ERA during that stretch. On the season, he carries a 1.57 ERA and 173 strikeouts — both tops in the majors.
The 24-year-old said after Monday’s outing that he expects to go deeper into games as he gets back into rhythm and ramps up from the recent time off. He noted that he spent the previous offseason specifically preparing his body for the heavier workload this season would demand.
“The offseason last year, we focused on legs and doing all that stuff to get myself ready for this track of the year,” Misiorowski said. “I feel good where I’m at. Ready to go.”
