Since they lowered the mound, no qualified starting pitcher has given up fewer hits per inning than Jacob Misiorowski did this season. Judged by this metric, he sits atop a leaderboard littered with some of the best pitching seasons of all time, including:
- Nolan Ryan’s 1972, when he had a 2.28 ERA over 284 innings with 329 strikeouts for the Angels
- Pedro Martinez’ 2000, which by ERA- is the best season by a starter of all time
- Justin Verlander’s 2019, in which he went 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA in 223 innings
- Blake Snell’s 2018, which landed him his first Cy Young with a 1.89 ERA and a 21-5 record
Of course, when you suppress hits to this level, the defense has to have some sort of role. Think of the biggest plays in no-hitters, like DeWayne Wise’s catch to save Mark Buehrle’s no-no, or Mike Baxter’s wall-slamming effort to keep Johan Santana’s going.
And the Brewer’s excellent defense — particularly in the outfield — has risen to the occasion and played their best behind him. They’ve done their part.
But when you throw 100 mph as often as Misiorowski has done, you make your own luck. That may turn a few decades of baseball research on their head — analysts have long held that pitchers don’t have that control over what happens after a hitter makes contact — but new research suggests that high-stuff pitchers can suppress hits.
Look back at that list. It’s dripping with stuff. And Jacob Misiorowski absolutely belongs on it.
