Misiorowski’s first – Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski is scheduled to make his first career start at Coors Field on Saturday, a mile-high setting where Milwaukee’s other probable starters—Brandon Sproat and Shane Drohan—will also face altitude and a long outfield for the first tim
On Thursday, Jacob Misiorowski was already drinking like Coors Field matters.
Not in a dramatic way. Just sips of an electrolyte drink—routine preparation that carries a message in a park where velocity can feel different and every pitch seems to travel farther than you expect. Saturday will be his first career start at the Rockies’ mile-high home. and for Misiorowski and the rest of the Brewers’ rotation. this weekend isn’t just another series. It’s the first time they’ll try to control their game inside the altitude and the seemingly endless outfield that have made Colorado one of baseball’s toughest pitcher stops.
Misiorowski is one of Milwaukee’s probable starters in the series, alongside Brandon Sproat and Shane Drohan. All three will experience Coors Field’s conditions for the first time.
“For me. altitude shouldn’t be a big factor in my game. ” Misiorowski said. coming off a spectacular May in which he went 5-0 with a 0.23 ERA and. somehow. still missed out on NL Pitcher of the Month honors. He acknowledged what altitude might change—especially the way his breaking ball behaves—but he didn’t sound worried about his ability to make it work.
“OK, it makes my curveball a little worse. Instead of 12 inches of drop, maybe I get eight. It will still work.
For me, it’s not that big of a deal to go up there. Maybe I give up one nuke because of the altitude. It’s going to happen. The velocity might even pick up.”
That’s the core problem at Coors: the ball can come out hot. and that’s where pitchers have to choose between chasing perfection and staying durable. Misiorowski’s approach leans hard on power—he relies “not on movement but otherworldly velocity and extension. ” a combination that can make his 103 mph fastballs appear even faster from the batter’s box.
Brandon Woodruff believes Misiorowski is too quick to downplay how good he has it.
“He doesn’t know how good he’s got it,” Woodruff said. “I tell him that all the time.”
Woodruff has already seen the best and worst of Coors Field. He made his third career start there in 2017, pitching into the fifth inning while allowing only one run. Then in 2018. the park swung hard the other way: Woodruff allowed seven earned runs on as many hits—nine—while recording the same number of outs as he did hits.
In 2021, a streak of 12 straight starts with two or fewer earned runs ended at Coors with a five-run first inning. In 2022, though, Woodruff managed one earned run on two hits in seven innings. The lesson. as he and other Brewers pitchers have learned firsthand. is that you never quite know what version of Coors you’ll get.
For Milwaukee, that means the focus has to be less about the atmosphere and more about the basics.
“Just try not to make a big deal of it,” said Milwaukee pitching coordinator Jim Henderson. Henderson threw two scoreless innings at Coors, but he also absorbed blown saves in two other outings there for the Brewers and Mets.
“Just go execute the crap out of it and know stuff may happen,” Henderson said. “Let’s just stay resilient and keep going.”
Coors isn’t the only hurdle on this stretch. Henderson pointed out that the Brewers’ next stop is Las Vegas for three games against the A’s at that club’s Triple-A home—described as an extremely hitter-friendly venue.
“Hey, this is what we’ve got for the next week,” Henderson said. “There’s no backing down from it.”
Milwaukee’s early results suggest they’re built to handle difficult environments. Going into Thursday’s series finale against the Giants, the Brewers had MLB’s second-best team ERA (3.11), third-best average against (.217), and third-best WHIP (1.18).
Misiorowski has been central to that momentum, especially during the near-flawless stretch in May. He set a Brewers franchise record for any single month with 57 strikeouts and allowed only one run in six starts—on a run-scoring groundout.
Even the Pitcher of the Month vote didn’t break him. Misiorowski said all the right things about losing to Philadelphia left-hander Cristopher Sánchez. who didn’t allow a single run in five May starts but still trailed Misiorowski in several other categories. including WHIP. average against. and strikeouts.
In the same month, they became the first two pitchers since 1900 to both achieve the feat of allowing one run or fewer over at least five starts. Misiorowski still didn’t take the award.
“Obviously, I want to win, but it’s not like I’m [mad] about it,” Misiorowski said. “You can’t worry about it. Dude had a good month.”
He doesn’t know Sánchez personally, but the two share history with the strange politics of baseball recognition. Misiorowski recalled that Philadelphia was upset when MLB asked Misiorowski, after just five career starts, to go to last year’s All-Star Game over Sánchez.
“I haven’t been liked in that clubhouse,” Misiorowski said with a smile. “So they’re probably happy about this one.”
Now comes the part that can’t be decided by awards or votes. Saturday is Misiorowski’s first real confrontation with the altitude. the outfield. and the unpredictable swing Coors Field has delivered to pitchers before him. His pitch arsenal is built for speed and extension. but his job—like Henderson’s message—will be to execute anyway. The environment may change the numbers. The challenge is keeping the intent steady.
Jacob Misiorowski Coors Field Brewers Brandon Sproat Shane Drohan Jim Henderson MLB Pitcher of the Month Cristopher Sánchez Brandon Woodruff altitude