Jacob Misiorowski is emerging as a true ace for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025

What happened

Jacob Misiorowski is pitching like a true ace for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025, dominating hitters and improving across nearly every important statistical category, per FanGraphs. The emergence is a meaningful step forward from a debut season that generated considerable attention but finished with what FanGraphs describes as comparatively unspectacular numbers — and a forgettable position in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

The 24-year-old right-hander's latest outing came against the St. Louis Cardinals in Milwaukee, the same opponent he faced when he introduced himself to the major leagues. FanGraphs describes the start as both a gem and an awe-inspiring performance, consistent with the kind of outings that have defined his 2025 season.

Why it matters

The story of Misiorowski's development is worth understanding in full, because the pitcher who debuted and the one currently taking the ball every fifth day are, by FanGraphs' account, genuinely different propositions.

When he broke in with the Brewers, the 6-foot-7 righty was, per FanGraphs, tough to miss. He reached 100.5 mph on his first major league pitch. His debut against the Cardinals in Milwaukee on June 12 saw him top out at 102.2 mph across five hitless innings. He followed that with six perfect frames against the Twins before surrendering a walk and a home run. After just five starts, he earned a spot on the National League All-Star roster as an injury replacement — a remarkable pace for any pitcher, let alone one still learning what the highest level asks of him.

Then, as FanGraphs notes, he leveled off. The debut flash was real, but the full-season numbers did not sustain it. The Rookie of the Year voters, apparently, noticed.

What makes 2025 different, per FanGraphs, is that the improvement is broad rather than isolated. It is not one pitch or one stretch of starts — it is practically every important statistical category moving in the right direction simultaneously. That kind of across-the-board development is what separates a promising arm from a rotation anchor, and the Brewers, sitting where they are in the standings, have every reason to care about the distinction.

There is also something operationally significant about a young starter finding his footing on a team that is winning at this rate. A club at 103-59 does not need its ace to carry them; it needs him to hold what the offense and bullpen have already built. That is a different kind of pressure — quieter, perhaps, but no less real — and Misiorowski, per FanGraphs, appears to be meeting it.

The Cardinals have now served as the backdrop for two of his most notable outings. Whether that is coincidence or something the St. Louis advance staff is quietly losing sleep over is a question the material does not answer.

The numbers

The Brewers are 103-59 (.636), first in the NL Central, and riding a five-game winning streak. That record is not merely a backdrop — it is the environment in which Misiorowski's development is unfolding, and it raises the stakes for everything the rotation does from here. A team at .636 is not rebuilding around a young arm; it is counting on one.

FanGraphs characterizes the improvement as spanning practically every important statistical category, which is a deliberately broad framing. The directional claim — broad, real, visible in the numbers — is FanGraphs' own, and it is worth taking seriously given the outlet's analytical standards.

Where the club stands

Milwaukee sits atop the NL Central at 103-59 (.636), leading the division and carrying a five-game winning streak into the current stretch. The upcoming schedule offers a useful read on where the rotation stands: Wednesday's home game against the Cardinals at American Family Field lists Chad Patrick as the probable starter against Dustin May. The Brewers then travel to Houston for a pair of games at Daikin Park — Coleman Crow against Kai-Wei Teng on Friday, and Brandon Sproat against Peter Lambert on Saturday.

Misiorowski's name does not appear among the upcoming probables, which means his next turn will arrive against the backdrop of a team that has won five straight and holds a firm grip on first place. The Cardinals, who have now faced him twice in memorable fashion, are also on the immediate schedule — though in Wednesday's game, it is Patrick taking the ball.

Houston presents its own kind of test. Daikin Park has a roof, which tends to generate its own annual conversation about conditions, and the Astros are a different kind of opponent than the Cardinals. But that is a problem for the pitchers whose names are already listed — not, at least for now, for Misiorowski.

What we don't know yet

FanGraphs frames Misiorowski's 2025 arc as ace-level, but the piece does not specify which statistical categories have improved, by how much, or what the full shape of his season looks like in precise terms. "Practically every important statistical category" is suggestive rather than granular, and the desk will not fill in numbers that are not in the material.

The source text also describes his latest start as both a gem and an awe-inspiring performance without detailing the full line from that outing. The characterization is unambiguous; the specifics behind it are not available here.

Whether the improvement holds across a full season is a question FanGraphs does not answer, and the desk will not answer it either. What FanGraphs does say is that the development is real, broad, and grounded in the numbers — which is a more durable foundation than a single electric debut, however memorable that debut was.

What to watch

The obvious follow-up question for Brewers fans is where Misiorowski slots into the rotation from here and when his next start arrives. Wednesday's game at American Family Field features Chad Patrick, so his next outing will come later in the week or beyond — the material does not specify when.

More broadly, the arc FanGraphs is tracing — a young starter who debuted with historic velocity, leveled off, and is now improving across the board in his second full season — is the kind of development story that tends to define a franchise's competitive window. The Brewers are already at 103-59 (.636); what Misiorowski becomes over the months ahead will matter for how deep that window opens and how long it stays that way.

The velocity was always there. Per FanGraphs, the rest of the profile is catching up.