Jacob Misiorowski is the favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award, and he has been lighting up the radar gun all season.
The league has never seen a starting pitcher maintain velocity like Misiorowski, touching 105.5 mph at one point this year. That was the fastest pitch recorded by a starting pitcher in the pitch-tracking era, which dates back to 2008.
On Tuesday night, Misiorowski became the first pitcher ever to throw at least 1,000 pitches of at least 100 mph in a single season, and he still has a few more starts to make.
"Nothing,” Misiorowski said when asked for his reaction to that number, per MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. “That’s how I throw. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s cool. It’s one of those things when I’m done with my career, then I’ll think about it. Right now, that’s what I do. I throw hard. The guys on the other side expect that.”
The Chicago Cubs had the displeasure of facing Misiorowski on Tuesday night, but they are a team that has had some success against him. However, they have seen him four times this season. Obviously, the more any team sees a pitcher, the better, and the Cubs tagged him for five runs on Sept. 2.
Tuesday night was Misiorowski's first start since that game, and the Cubs put a run on him in the first inning. However, after that, he settled in and went 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts. Misiorowski is having a historic season, and the Cy Young Award looks like it's his to lose at this point.