Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski did not throw one of the fastest pitches ever recorded from a starting pitcher on Friday night at American Family Field. He threw ten of them.
Three reached 103.6 mph, a velocity no starting pitcher has ever touched in the Statcast tracking era, which begins in 2008.
He struck out 11 New York Yankees in six scoreless innings. The Brewers won 6-0. Aaron Judge went to the plate twice. He reached base neither time.
Before Friday night, starting pitchers had combined for exactly three pitches at 103 mph or faster in the entire Statcast era.
One of those three was Misiorowski himself, from his previous start. He threw seven pitches at 103.2 mph or harder on Friday, just in the first two innings.
The numbers that came out of Milwaukee’s statistical press box after the game read like a misprint.
Of Misiorowski’s 95 total pitches, 41 traveled at 100 mph or faster. He threw 22 pitches at 102 mph or above, more than any pitcher has ever thrown at that velocity in a single game in the tracking era.
His average fastball was 101.1 mph, the highest average for any pitcher who threw at least 40 pitches in any game since Statcast began measuring.
He recorded four strikeouts on pitches at 102 mph or faster, another record for the era. His 94th pitch of the night, with two outs in the sixth inning, came in at 102.7 mph.
“I kept looking up at the velo after every pitch as he got deep,” Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
The Records Set On Friday
The previous record for the fastest pitch thrown by a starting pitcher since Statcast tracking began was held by Jordan Hicks of the St. Louis Cardinals, 103.2 mph on July 12, 2022.
Hicks was extraordinary, a reliever turned starter who held the outer edge of what starting pitchers had ever been measured doing. His 103.2 mph fastball stood as the standard for nearly four years.
Misiorowski threw seven pitches that fast or harder on Friday, in the first two innings alone.
The new list of fastest pitches ever thrown by a starting pitcher in the Statcast era, per MLB.com statistician Sarah Langs, now begins with six entries from May 8, 2026, all belonging to Jacob Misiorowski.
The three 103.6 mph pitches at the top. A 103.5. Two 103.3s. Jordan Hicks’ four-year record shows up somewhere after those.
It is the kind of statistical rearrangement that is supposed to happen gradually, at the margins, as the game evolves.
Not in a single Friday night performance by a 24-year-old in Milwaukee against the highest-scoring team in the American League.
The First Inning That Set The Tone For The Night
All ten pitches Misiorowski threw in the first inning went at least 102.4 mph. The one that was 102.4 was the slowest.
He struck out Yankees leadoff man Trent Grisham on three pitches. He struck out Ben Rice on three pitches.
The strike three to Rice came on a 103.3 mph fastball, the fastest called third strike from a starting pitcher in the Statcast era, at the time he threw it. He had already thrown one to Grisham on 102.8 mph.
Then he started Aaron Judge, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, who hit more home runs in 2025 than anyone in the major leagues, 0-and-2.
Eight of his nine pitches to that point had been four-seam fastballs. The ninth, to work to 0-and-2 on Judge, was a 103.1 mph fastball that narrowly missed the outside corner for ball one. He eventually got Judge out in the first inning without a hit.
Ten pitches, all of them at 102.4 mph or above, two strikeouts and the best hitter in baseball handled. That was the first inning.
Manager Pat Murphy said after the game that what he cares about is not the velocity number itself but what the velocity does in the context of a complete game plan. He added:
“I’m not real keen on the velo, whether it’s 100 or 103 or whatever. I just know if you don’t have your other stuff or don’t locate that in the zone or you’re throwing it just down the middle, these guys can time up a jet plane.”
On Friday, the rest of Misiorowski’s arsenal, an 89 mph curveball that looks like a different species next to the fastball, and a slider with late break, gave the Yankees nothing to sit on.
They were guessing fastball for the entire game. Most guesses were right. They still could not hit it.
Spencer Jones’ Debut And What Misiorowski Did To Him
The most specific illustration of what Friday’s velocity looked like from the batter’s box came courtesy of Spencer Jones, the highly regarded Yankees outfield prospect who made his major league debut on Friday night.
Jones had hit 11 home runs and stolen 7 bases at Triple-A before his call-up and has a following among baseball fans as a power-speed combination the Yankees have been waiting to deploy.
His first major league plate appearance against Jacob Misiorowski went like this: 103.6 mph fastball up and in for a called strike.
Then 102.3 mph up and in for a swinging strike. Then 103.6 mph up and in that Jones fouled off. Then 89 mph curveball in the zone for a foul-tip strikeout.
The gap between the fastball velocity and the curveball velocity is 14.6 mph. For a hitter trying to time up Misiorowski’s fastball, that curveball arrives approximately 50 milliseconds later than the brain has calculated it should.
Jones fouled off the second 103.6 mph pitch, the equivalent of reacting to a fastball at that velocity and making solid contact, and was then frozen by the curveball.
He drew a walk in the fifth inning in his second plate appearance. Baseball perspective. Holding Jacob Misiorowski to a walk in your MLB debut is a decent outcome.
The Velocity Endurance That Makes This Different
There is a specific thing that is extraordinary about Misiorowski’s performance Friday that goes beyond the peak velocity numbers. It is the velocity endurance.
Throwing 103 mph once, or twice, or three times in a game is not unheard of from relievers who throw maximum effort for one inning. Throwing it in the fifth inning on your 71st pitch of the game is something else entirely.
Misiorowski reached 103 mph in the fifth inning. His 94th pitch was 102.7 mph.
The endurance of velocity at that extreme end, the ability to sustain triple-digit speed deep into a start, has been the specific limitation that has historically prevented hard-throwing starters from operating at the outer edge of what pitchers can produce.
The physical cost of velocity typically forces a starter to either reduce it as innings accumulate or leave the game.
Murphy credited the offseason work Misiorowski has done to build the physical capacity to sustain those efforts, comparing it to the difference between a boxer who fights three-round amateur bouts and one who has built the conditioning for longer professional fights.
The comparison is apt because what Misiorowski is doing physiologically, maintaining extreme exertion across 95 pitches and six innings, requires the kind of structural fitness development that does not happen in a single offseason.
In his previous start, Misiorowski had thrown 43 pitches at 100 mph or faster through 5â…“ shutout innings before a right hamstring cramp forced him from the game.
On Friday, he threw 41 across a full six innings and finished on consecutive strikeouts of Judge and Cody Bellinger.
The Context That Makes The Performance Matter
The Brewers entered 2026 needing Jacob Misiorowski to be their ace. Freddy Peralta was traded in the offseason. Brandon Woodruff is dealing with shoulder issues.
The three-time defending National League Central champions needed their 24-year-old to carry the rotation the way their established arms previously had. He has.
His season numbers entering Friday, a 2.45 ERA, 70 strikeouts and 17 walks in 44 innings, were already among the best in the National League. Friday lowered the ERA and raised the strikeout total, with Milwaukee now at 20-16 and having won seven of their last ten while chasing the Chicago Cubs in the division.
CC Sabathia happened to be in Milwaukee on Friday, the Hall of Fame pitcher was inducted into the Brewers’ Wall of Honor before the game. Sabathia, who was also 6 feet 7 inches tall, has said publicly that he sees a lot of himself in Misiorowski.
They spoke before the game. “CC’s the man,” Misiorowski said. “It’s really cool to meet a guy like that. He came in before the game and we got to really talk to him and pick his brain a little bit. It was fun.”
What came after the conversation was Misiorowski taking the mound and rewriting the Statcast record books in six innings against the best lineup in the American League.
Rookie reliever Shane Drohan threw the final three innings to earn his first career save. His postgame assessment of Misiorowski was as complete a summary as anything the statistics produced.
“It’s hard to believe you’re going to see something you possibly haven’t, with how much baseball we play,” Drohan said. “But when he’s on the mound, it’s possible.”
