With the first pitch of his start against the New York Yankees on Friday, Milwaukee Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski reared back and threw a 102.4 mph fastball for a called strike.
It was the slowest pitch he’d throw that inning.
MLB’s hardest-throwing pitcher lived up to his reputation Friday and then some, firing 41 pitches measured by Statcast at 100 mph or faster. Ten of them came in the first inning, when he blew away the top of the Yankees’ order.
Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, the previous fastest pitch ever record by a starter was Jordan Hicks with a 103.2 mph fastball on July 12, 2022 (with data going back to 2008). Misiorowski threw seven pitches harder than that Friday.
The results matched the velocity, as he struck out 11 Yankees in 6 scoreless innings while allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks. That’s a strikeout for every letter in his last name.
The Brewers cruised to a 6-0 victory as reliever Shane Drohan kept the Yankees quiet for the remaining three innings with three strikeouts.
For those curious, the overall fastest pitch ever tracked by MLB is 105.8 mph from Aroldis Chapman (Sept. 24, 2010).
The most cruel moment came in the second inning. Friday marked the MLB debut of Yankees prospect Spencer Jones, who has many fans excited about a power-speed combination that saw him post 11 homers and 7 stolen bases at Triple-A before his call-up.
Here is what Misiorowski did to him in his first big-league plate appearance: 103.6 mph up and in for a called strike, 102.3 mph up and in for a swinging strike, 103.6 mph up and in fouled off, 89 mph curveball in the zone for a foul-tip strikeout.
It’s like the Yankees outsourced his rookie hazing.
To Jones’ credit, he did better next time, drawing a walk in the fifth inning.
Misiorowski was already well-known as a flamethrower — Friday just represented his peak (so far) when it comes to velocity. His actual results have been up and down through about a full year in MLB, but he’s been absolutely terrifying for most of 2026. He leads all qualified MLB starters with a 39.5% strikeout rate through Friday, plus a 2.43 ERA and 0.95 WHIP.
