Spencer Jones, the New York Yankees’ top prospect, made his major league debut against the Milwaukee Brewers, and a 104 mph fastball was there to greet him.
“I’ve never seen pitches that hard in my life, and to be able to foul off a couple’s pretty great, so I’ll take that for now,” Jones said, finding the consolation prize after facing flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski at American Family Field.
In a battle between two young, 6-foot-7 talents at American Family Field, Jones’ first at-bat became Misiorowski’s third strikeout May 8 and ended the second inning of what became a 6-0 Brewers victory.
Misiorowski dominated the Yankees, recording 11 strikeouts and allowing just two hits and two walks. He threw 95 pitches, 66 for strikes, and put an exclamation point on his outing with strikeouts of Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger. His second-last pitch was still in the 102s.
“Obviously it was good he got a lead and was able to get after it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s that kind of lower slot that he has and then he gets the extension, almost more so than the velocity [that is the biggest challenge].
“I thought there were a couple times where we were getting some good at-bats against them and controlling the zone a little bit there. But he had that big lead and got after pretty good.”
Whatever the balance is between arm slot, extension and speed when Misiorowski pitches, consider Jones impressed.
He didn’t know where to find the radar gun readout, so he was unsure how fast Misiorowski’s pitches were coming until after the fact. He just knew they were unlike any he’d seen on his climb to the majors.
“Not with that kind of velocity and aggression,” said Jones, who was 0 for 2 with a walk and two strikeouts as the designated hitter. “I mean, he was in the zone. He was so hard.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Yankees impressed by Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski