Milwaukee Brewers pitcher to make history at MLB All-Star Game

A Milwaukee Brewers pitcher is set to make Major League Baseball history tonight at the 95th annual All-Star Game. 

Jacob Misiorowski was selected this week to take to the mound at Truist Park in Atlanta — becoming the player with the fewest major league game appearances to be selected as an All-Star.

Five games.

Sports reporter JR Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel told WPR’s “Morning Edition” that while the All-Star pick is surprising, the 23-year-old has proven himself as an “electric” pitcher with 33 strikeouts to date and a fastball that can reach more than 100 miles per hour.

“It’s wild that we’re going to see his sixth big league appearance being the All-Star Game,” he said. 

Radcliffe said Misiorowski’s game list surpasses last year’s historic pick, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who played in the All-Star Game after 11 starts.

“That caused a stir,” he said. “There were a lot of people in baseball, observing baseball, who felt like that was just not enough data.”

He also mentioned that more pitchers than normal were uninterested in playing in this year’s All-Star Game. 

“I think it just got to a point where they got further down the list, and they’re like let’s put one of our big young stars into the game,”  Radcliffe said. 

Misiorowski will replace Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd on the National League roster. He will also join his teammate, closing pitcher Trevor Megill, who recently replaced Freddy Peralta.

The Brewers have racked up 56 wins so far this season, and Misiorowski is one of the “quartet of arms” maintaining the team’s second place position in the National League, Radcliffe said. He talked further about the ongoing season and whether the Wisconsin team can catch the division’s first place team — the Chicago Cubs.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity 

Alex Crowe: What can you tell us about these four Brewers players who are really having a major impact on the season so far?

JR Radcliffe: I would say it goes beyond even the front four, which is what makes this pitching staff so special. The top of that is definitely Jacob Misiorowski.

Freddy Peralta has been here a long time. He’s the veteran, and he’s having really the best first half he’s really ever had in a Brewer’s uniform, and he finished hot. His last six games he’s been the winning pitcher, and all six of those, that’s a really impressive run. He was named to the All-Star team. He won’t appear in the game itself, but he’s been very special. 

Then you look at the rest of the rotation, Brandon Woodruff is back. He’s a guy who missed 650 days between starts. He had a very serious shoulder injury. It cost him all of last season, first half of this season, but his two starts look fantastic.

Then, Quinn Priester, a guy that they added mid-season has exceeded expectations and been excellent. The Brewers seem to have gotten their claws into him and turned a pitcher who had some promise but unrealized potential.

They’ve got José Quintana, who’s a veteran that they signed, who’s also been very steady. And it goes beyond that — Chad Patrick, Tobias Myers, Logan Henderson, Nestor Cortes. That depth is really exceptional. 

AC: What are we expecting from players who really need a couple of days to rest? 

JR: Sal Frelick hurt himself on Sunday. He sounds like he was dealing with some hamstring soreness, and he left the game early. We don’t quite know the severity of that yet. He has been one of the faces of this team. He’s kind of become their lead-off hitter. He’s a Gold Glove [winner] now as a defensive outfielder in right field. He has been the spark plug, but this team doesn’t have a lot of superstars up and down that lineup. 

Christian Yelich might be an exception. He’s having a really good year again, but they don’t have a lot of what we call “black holes.” They just don’t have a lot of guys in the lineup who are going to be an easy out. 

Joey Ortiz has struggled at shortstop this year offensively, but everybody else in that lineup is giving you something. Caleb Durbin, when he came up, I wasn’t sure that he was a big league third baseman offensively capable of being a contributor. But he has been both of those things. 

Jackson Chourio, who’s 21 years old, has been up and down at times. But when he’s up, he’s way, way up. William Contreras has done this over and over. He’s been hurt a little bit this year, so the numbers are down, but you’re still talking about a multiple time all star who’s capable of carrying you if he gets hot again. 

There’s bound to be some twists and turns, but if they can keep this lineup balanced this way, it’s going to be a problem for teams, because they can’t work their way around the bottom third of the order.

AC: The Brewers are sitting one game behind the Chicago Cubs for leading the division. How do we anticipate the rest of the division shaking out and possibly a Brewers playoff run? 

JR: The Cubs are a very good team. Their lineup is sensational. Kyle Tucker is incredible. Pete Crow-Armstrong is having an MVP season. I’d be curious to see if it lasts in the second half. Their pitching staff has been excellent. They are really still the team to catch, team to beat.

This reminds me of 2018 when I didn’t even think about the Brewers catching the Cubs, and then late in the season, they pulled it off. They got super white hot at the end of the year, and they actually caught them. They beat them in a tiebreaker game.

I don’t expect that the Brewers will catch the Cubs. I think the Brewers right now, even as good as they’ve been, are a wild card team. But they are firmly in the wild card situation right now. They have a healthy lead over the first team that’s not in the wild card picture. If they keep winning, they’re bound to threaten Chicago. I still think Craig Counsell’s team is the best in the division, maybe even the best team in the National League. I don’t know if the Los Angeles Dodgers will ever be healthy enough where I can say that they’re that juggernaut again.