Isaac Ciravolo
With Brandon Woodruff sidelined and the starting rotation facing early-season depth questions, the Milwaukee Brewers needed someone to step up if they wanted to defend their NL Central crown. Instead, they got two potential Cy Young contenders.
Through the first two months of the 2026 season, Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison have evolved from high-upside arms into the most dominant one-two punch in baseball. With a growing cushion in the division, Milwaukee’s rotation has become a nightmare for opposing lineups. Here is how their contrasting profiles have completely locked down the National League.
“The Miz” Reaches Another Level
Jacob Misiorowski did not just have a good May. He had one of the most dominant pitching months in modern baseball history. Despite this, he was not named NL pitcher of the month because of Phillies’ Christopher Sanchez’s 44 2/3 inning scoreless streak.
He was, however, recently named the NL player of the Week after striking out 20 batters across 14 scoreless innings. Misiorowski has leveraged his 99.9 mph average fastball velo (99th percentile) with his 100th percentile extension to completely overpower pitchers. According to Codify Baseball, Misiorowski has thrown the 120 fastest pitches thrown by MLB starters this year.
From an analytical standpoint, his breakout is fueled by his secondary pitches playing perfectly off his overwhelming four-seamer. Hitters are forced to cheat to catch up to Misiorowski’s 100+ mph fastball, leaving them vulnerable to a slider that tunnels perfectly off the heater.
Kyle Harrison’s Breakout
If Misiorowski is the Brewers’ right-handed flamethrower, Kyle Harrison is the ultimate left-handed foil. After moving from the San Francisco Giants to the Boston Red Sox, Harrison landed in Milwaukee in a February 2026 blockbuster trade that sent Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio to Boston. In Milwaukee, he has unlocked his true ceiling.
Harrison has fully arrived by suppressing opposing offenses with modern pitch design. His success stems from his low three-quarter release point (33 degrees) and an extremely flat Vertical Approach Angle (-3.9 degrees). This design creates an optical illusion that makes the pitch look as if it were “rising” into the zone.
He recently cemented his breakout by carving up his original organization on June 2, striking out 12 Giants over 5.2 dominant innings. Harrison’s ability to consistently generate whiffs in the zone with his four-seamer, while keeping hitters off balanced with a slurve used 29% of the time, has anchored the middle of the Brewers’ staff.
Pacing an Injured Staff
The Brewers’ rotation depth was supposed to be their fatal flaw. With Woodruff out and young depth arms like Quinn Priester missing time, the pitching staff was dangerously thin. Misiorowski and Harrison haven’t just filled the void; they’ve masked it almost entirely.
During May, when the Brewers went 19-7 giving up only 72 runs, the two combined for a ridiculous 36.1 scoreless inning streak. When opposing teams face the Brewers they are met with back-to-back starts of domination from entirely different characteristics.
If Milwaukee’s one-two punch continues suppressing run environments at this historic pace, the division race might already be over.
