Jacob Misiorowski has been the story of the Brewers' season, a rookie right-hander sitting on a 10-4 record and a 1.62 ERA who was still finding new gears as the calendar flipped to July. That's what made it jarring when Milwaukee scratched him from his scheduled start against Paul Skenes and the Pirates, then pulled him from the All-Star Game entirely, all because of arm fatigue.
Jacob Misiorowski threw 368 fastballs in his last 6 starts with an AVERAGE velocity of 101.6 MPH. 😮
That kind of velocity doesn't come free. Manager Pat Murphy said after the scratch that Misiorowski "didn't recover well from his last start, and his throwing program was clunky," so the Brewers erred on the side of extra rest instead of pushing a rookie who'd already thrown 111 innings and racked up 167 strikeouts on a fastball that lives triple digits. It's the kind of caution teams wish they'd shown more often with young arms, and the fact that Milwaukee is leaning that direction with its NL Central lead intact says something about how seriously they're treating this.
The update that actually moved the needle came from MLB Trade Rumors: Misiorowski is back to throwing, but he's not walking straight back into the rotation.
Jacob Misiorowski To Resume Throwing, Won't Start This Week t.co/SdPjBex2wQ
He was already going to miss the series against Miami, and now the plan is to get him a throwing session in and see how the arm responds before committing to a return date. If Milwaukee slots him back in at the tail of the rotation, the target lines up with a start against the Mets, giving him the full All-Star break to recover on top of the extra rest he's already gotten.
The latest details on Misiorowski, who didn't make his final start before the break... t.co/753smn9qcd
None of this is being framed as a major injury, and Misiorowski himself said he won't need a trip to the IL. But for a Brewers team leading the NL Central and counting on him as a legitimate Cy Young contender down the stretch, even a cautious week off is a reminder of how fragile a 101-mph arm can be in year one. Fantasy managers who've ridden the strikeout numbers all season are stuck in the same holding pattern as the team: watch the throwing program, wait for the Mets date, and hope the fatigue stays exactly that.