Jacob Misiorowski is pitching a day sooner than the Brewers originally planned. Milwaukee flipped its breakout right-hander’s next turn from Tuesday to Monday against the New York Mets, swapping rotation slots with Brandon Sproat.
The move has nothing to do with any new injury concern, but it lands Misiorowski in a series opener loaded with subplots, including a first look at Freddy Peralta, the pitcher Milwaukee traded away last winter, and a chance to atone for the roughest outing of his big-league career.
Brewers beat writers confirmed the change Sunday morning, with MLB.com‘s Adam McCalvy reporting the swap. Misiorowski, who was initially penciled in for Tuesday after working through a bout of arm fatigue, will instead start Monday, while Sproat moves back a day.
Jacob Misiorowski’s Rotation Swap Explained
Nothing about the flip signals a setback. Misiorowski will be making his first start since July 7 in St. Louis, where he struck out 11 and allowed three runs across seven innings to pick up his 10th win of the season. The 24-year-old missed a turn before the All-Star break with fatigue in his arm, a decision the Brewers made to protect him rather than push through discomfort, and he’s been cleared and throwing without complaint since.
Sproat is part of the return package Milwaukee landed for dealing away the pitcher now walking back into American Family Field.
The numbers explain why Milwaukee is being careful. Misiorowski carries an MLB-leading 1.62 ERA to go with a 10-4 record, according to Fantasy Team Advice’s season stat tracker, 167 strikeouts and a microscopic 0.76 WHIP across 111 innings. His 13.5 strikeouts per nine rank among the best marks in the sport this season.
Misiorowski’s Breakout Season and Mets History
His innings total is worth keeping an eye on. Misiorowski threw a career-high 141.1 frames between Triple-A and the majors last year, playoffs included, and he’s closing in fast on that number again, which explains Milwaukee’s willingness to bend the schedule rather than the pitcher.
The dominance has been loud all season. Misiorowski has already thrown a complete-game shutout with 15 strikeouts, numbers that have placed him firmly in the National League Cy Young conversation. The Brewers have treated every extra day of rest as an investment in October.
History with the Mets isn’t on his side. Misiorowski’s only prior appearance against New York came in a doubleheader loss last July, when he lasted just 3 2/3 innings, walked three and served up a grand slam to Brandon Nimmo before Francisco Lindor added a solo shot, according to CBS Sports’ recap of that outing.
Monday adds a layer the Mets series wouldn’t otherwise have. Peralta, the pitcher Milwaukee sent to New York in January in the trade that brought Sproat back to the organization, according to CBS Sports’ breakdown of the January trade, starts for New York to open the series. Peralta hasn’t replicated his Cy Young-caliber Brewers season in New York, and a struggling Mets club has been floated as a likely deadline seller.
Misiorowski, now starting a day early, gets his shot to face the pitcher his own promotion helped push out the door, and to erase the memory of his earlier shelling by the Mets in the process.
Brewers Announce Jacob Misiorowski Decision Before Mets Series