Clayton Kershaw delivers blunt assessment of Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski before faceoff

Veteran Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is taking the mound against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday. Ahead of the game, the three-time Cy Young winner gave a blunt assessment of his opponent Jacob Misiorowski.

Misiorowski, making his fifth start of his MLB career on Tuesday, has gripped baseball fans with his electric pitching, similar to last year's NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.

On his MLB debut against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 12, the Brewers rookie pitched five scoreless innings, going hitless with five strikeouts and captivating fans with a 102.2 mph thunderbolt.

He has been impressive in his three starts since, boasting a 3-1 record. However, Clayton Kershaw isn't reading too much into it. He shrugged off the hype around the Brewers' pitching phenom ahead of Tuesday's showdown.

“I don’t even know who I’m pitching against,” Kershaw said. “Is that the guy who twisted his ankle on the mound? The ‘Twisted-His-Ankle’ guy? … He throws hard. I saw a couple of highlights. He throws hard. But so does everybody. Except me.”

While Kershaw was dismissive of the Brewers rookie, his manager Pat Murphy saw something special in the flamethrower.

He said ahead of the Dodgers matchup:

“He’s just broken the shell, man. He’s just out of the egg, all arms and legs. He’s still got gooey stuff coming off him. He’s something special.”

Jacob Misiorowski strangles Dodgers after rocky start against Shohei Ohtani

Jacob Misiorowski's sensational start to his MLB career came to a jarring halt against the New York Mets on July 2. He conceded five earned runs in 3.2 innings to record the first loss of his career.

He had a rocky start against the Dodgers on Tuesday after three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani blasted him for a solo home run from the lead-off spot. However, Misiorowski settled after conceding the homer, his only run of the game, as he pitched six innings with 12 strikeouts to limit the Dodgers to just one run.

His effort helped the team maintain a 2-1 lead heading into the seventh inning with the Brewers on the cusp of a series win.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash