As the regular season wound down, it wasn’t clear that Jacob Misiorowski would make the Milwaukee Brewers‘ playoff roster. He struggled down the stretch and many fans harbored justified misgivings over whether he could handle the high-stakes environment of postseason baseball.
Well, the Brewers gave him their vote of confidence by taking him along for the NLDS, and the rookie delievered. Misiorowski allowed one run in seven innings of work and played a rey role in securing a decisive Game 5 victory. His performance left no question as to whether he would be included on the NLCS roster against the Dodgers.
After Game 1, though, Pat Murphy left the door open to reinstating Misiorowski as a starter, a role he hasn’t held since being switched to the bullpen late in the regular season. Both his NLDS appearances came in relief, outings of three and four innings, respectively. Shaking things up would a major mistake now that he has found his postseason groove.
Now is not the time to switch up a working formula
One reason that it made sense to use an opener ahead of Misiorowski against the Cubs is that, in the regular season, the first inning or second inning was often when he struggled the most. Even if he escaped without allowing too many runs, his command could be wildly consistent out of the gate, more so than when he had settled in by the third or fourth inning.
Even though that it would seem to carry over to his first inning or two in relief, it hasn’t, and there could be a good reason for that outside of simple matchup hunting. It might simply be that the raw adrenaline and pressure of being on the mound to throw the first pitch of gets to Misiorowski in a way that coming in during the flow of the game, after an opener has worked at least a few betters out of the gate, does not.
That’s purely speculation, but it’s a plausible hypothesis. He is a rookie. He has struggled with command issues throughout his professional career, not just in the major leagues. Outside of late-game situations in close contests, the first pitch and by extension the first inning is the most spotlighted segment of the action. And in the playoffs, pressure only ramps up across the board. Easing Misiorowski into the flow with, say, an Aaron Ashby, a Chad Patrick, or even a Trevor Megill could be the way to go. Anyway, it worked in the Division Series.
Results can be disingenuous, but it’s also hard to argue with them. Why change what’s working?Maybe Misiorowski has flipped the switch and just feels more comfortable, period – it sure seems that way – but if entering games in the second or third inning boosts his confidence, rocking the boat is an enterprise whose reward doesn’t match the risk. Would using Miz as a starter accomplish anything besides re-aligning his innings, from, say, the second through the fifth/sixth to the first through the fourth/fifth?
True, the Brewers are short on reliable starters, but they have a bullpen stacked witih long relievers: Ashby, Patrick, Tobias Myers, and Robert Gasser can all work multiple innings at a time. Moreover, the Brewers didn’t even let Quinn Priester start things off in Game 1, opening with Ashby ahead of him. It makes sense, too: the first two-thirds of the Dodgers lineup is front-loaded with lefty bats Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy.
Murphy might not always have a lefty to turn to as an opener, but he didn’t have one, either, in Game 5 against the Cubs, when used the right-hander Megill for the first inning before calling on Misiorowski afterward. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Given how volatile Misiorowski’s rookie season has been, his is a case where that adage would be wisely applied.
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