How Brewers Pitcher Jacob Misiorowski Went from 'Baby Giraffe' to Baseball Sensation

Jacob Misiorowski is a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, and he throws a baseball faster than almost anyone on Earth. On June 26, he threw a fastball clocked at 105.5 mph against the Chicago Cubs — the fastest pitch ever recorded by a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball history. The 6-foot-7 right-hander is now one of the top contenders for the National League Cy Young Award, which goes to the best pitcher in the league. But getting to this moment took years of hard work, injuries, and a lot of growing up — both physically and as an athlete.

Misiorowski was only 14 years old when pitching coach Bob Zimmermann first saw him throw a baseball. At the time, Misiorowski was already 6-foot-4 and very thin. Zimmermann described him as a 'super-lean baby giraffe' because he was so tall but hadn't yet learned to control his long body. Even so, Zimmermann could tell the young pitcher had something special. 'He could always accelerate,' Zimmermann said. 'It was electric even at that point.'

In high school at Grain Valley High School in Missouri, Misiorowski was throwing 80 to 82 mph as a freshman — fast for his age, but he had trouble controlling where the ball went. His high school coach, Brian Driskell, said the young pitcher 'didn't really have an idea of where it was going.' Because of this, Misiorowski started his high school career on the freshman team. He had some good games and some bad games, but he kept improving. By his senior year, he was throwing 95 to 96 mph and allowing only 11 hits all season.

Even with his strong senior year, Misiorowski faced some tough setbacks. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the MLB draft was cut to only five rounds, and he went undrafted out of high school. He went to Crowder College in Missouri, where he tore a ligament in his knee during his first year. After recovering, he reconnected with Zimmermann and their work on pitching mechanics really started to pay off. By his second year at Crowder, Misiorowski was throwing 100 mph.

So how does someone throw a baseball that fast? Zimmermann explained that it comes down to the way Misiorowski uses his body. His height gives him longer arms and legs, which helps him generate more speed. He also has great 'hip-shoulder separation,' meaning his hips and shoulders work together in a powerful twisting motion. Because his body is so long, his center of mass travels faster through space as he throws, adding even more power to each pitch.

The Milwaukee Brewers chose Misiorowski in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft and signed him for $2.35 million. He made his MLB debut in 2025 and quickly became one of the most exciting pitchers to watch. When his fastball hit 105.5 mph against the Cubs, fans and players were stunned. According to MLB.com, no starting pitcher had ever been recorded throwing that hard in the history of the sport.

But could a pitcher ever throw even faster? Scientists who study how the body moves say probably not by much. Glenn Fleisig, a biomechanics expert at the American Sports Medicine Institute, said that 105 mph is close to the limit of what the human body can handle. The biggest issue is a small ligament in the elbow called the ulnar collateral ligament, also known as the Tommy John ligament. When pitchers throw too hard, this ligament is at risk of tearing, which requires surgery and months of recovery.

Fleisig explained that 100+ mph pitching puts the maximum amount of stress on the elbow ligament that it can handle before breaking. That is why so many hard-throwing pitchers end up getting injured, and why scientists believe it is unlikely we will ever see pitches much faster than what Misiorowski already throws. Still, every time Misiorowski takes the mound, the baseball world watches closely — radar guns ready — to see just what is possible.