The Brewers are considering the possibility of using Jacob Misiorowski out of the bullpen over the final week of the season as they determine what role to use him in during the playoffs, manager Pat Murphy told reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) last night.
Misiorowski, 23, made waves when he debuted back in June by posting massive strikeout totals in the first few starts of his career and landed a somewhat controversial All-Star nod just five starts into his MLB career. At that time, he had a 2.81 ERA and a 33.7% career strikeout rate. He turned in another pair of strong (albeit abbreviated) starts to round out the month of July and bring his ERA down to 2.70 while his strikeout rate crept up to an incredible 36.4%. Unfortunately, he would miss the first two weeks of August due to a tibia contusion after he was hit by a comebacker on the mound.
Since returning from the injured list, Misiorowski has begun to look somewhat over-matched at times. A five-run blowup against the Reds in Cincinnati where the right-hander recorded just four outs marked an inauspicious return from the shelf, and he left the month of August having posted a 9.58 ERA in three starts. That was easy enough to dismiss as a fluke given the continued excellence of his peripherals, highlighted by a game against the Diamondbacks where Misiorowski struck out ten of his opponents in just five innings of work while walking only one.
The right-hander’s September struggles have been harder to dismiss, however. The run prevention hasn’t been as significantly troubling, as he’s surrendered just a 4.50 ERA. Unlike his disastrous August, however, the peripheral numbers suggests Misiorowski’s poor results this month have been entirely earned. His strikeout rate has plummeted to just 22.6% over four September starts, and with three of his eight career home runs allowed in just those last four starts he’s starting to have problems with the long ball as well.
All told, Misiorowski has a 6.23 ERA and 4.11 FIP across seven starts since returning from the injured list. Those are, put simply, not the numbers of a playoff caliber starter. The Brewers aren’t an organization that’s afraid to buck conventional wisdom, so perhaps those poor results don’t necessarily rule him out for getting the ball in a playoff game. With that being said, it’s hard to argue with Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta as the club’s top two starters. Quinn Priester has more than earned a spot in the playoff rotation as well at this point, and in situations where a fourth starter is needed it would be understandable if the Brewers preferred to go with someone like rookie righty Chad Patrick or (if he returns from the injured list in time) veteran southpaw Jose Quintana for that final rotation spot.
If the Brewers are seriously considering leaving Misiorowski out of their playoff rotation, then it stands to reason that getting him some experience coming out of the bullpen over the final week of the regular season would be a good idea. It could allow Misiorowski to get used to pitching for just one or two innings at a time, allow him to worry less about trying to sustain his elite stuff over multiple innings, and allow the club to get a preview of how effective he could be if allowed to let loose in a relief role. For an organization that has previously relied on elite bullpen talents like Josh Hader and Devin Williams in big playoff moments, adding another arm with sky-high upside to the relief corps ahead of October can’t hurt as the Brewers look to win their first playoff series since 2017.