From Stacking Lumber to Stacking Strikeouts: Grain Valley’s Jacob Misiorowski Silences Critics with All-Star Debut

by Bill Althaus, Grain Valley News

Five years ago, Grain Valley High School graduate Jacob Misiorowski was stacking a pile of broken tree limbs and trunks in a neat pile at the back of our lot.

We had a massive weeping willow in our backyard, that split down the middle following a micro-burst. While Stacy and I cut the wood to be used for our fireplace, we needed some strong shoulders to move it from our neighbor's yard into ours.

Every spring the Grain Valley baseball team participates in a Day of Giving, where the Eagles go into the neighborhoods to provide some relief, and muscle.

Misiorowski, who was the talk of Grain Valley, was in the group that visited our home.

While some players were taking rides in a wheelbarrow or chatting away, "The Miz," manhandled those trunks and tree limbs with the same intensity that helped make him a member of the 2025 National League All-Star team.

That's why I take offense to the number of players - including some of his National League all-star teammates - who blasted the 23-year-old right-hander for being added to the roster after just five monumental starts.

Let's look at those starts.

He became the only pitcher since the turn of the century to throw no-hit ball in his first 11 innings.

Misiorowski opened his big-league debut with a 100.5 mph fastball. He threw five no-hit innings against St. Louis in his first big-league start and followed that with six no-hitting innings against Minnesota.

The 6-foot-7 rookie is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has 33 strikeouts and only 12 hits allowed in 25.2 innings. 

When the negative remarks started major league commissioner Rob Manfred defended his pick of Misiorowski to replace Chicago's Matthew Boyd.

"He's a very, very good pitcher on a very, very good run right now," Manfred told a group of Baseball Writers of American. "He's going to generate a lot of excitement. Do I understand five starts is short? Yeah, I do. And do I want to make that the norm? No, I don't. But I think it was the right decision given where we were."

Misiorowski and the Brewers did not campaign for a spot on the all-star roster.

"MLB officials actually reached out to about a dozen pitchers looking for a replacement for the All-Star Game until Misiorowski agreed on Friday," USA Today's Bob Nightengale wrote. "MLB is concerned by the rash of players who have bailed out of the All-Star Game this year. The most common reason by the players who have opted out of playing the game is 'is rest and recuperation.'"

And that's what Misiorowski thought he was going to enjoy, until the he learned of his invitation.

"I was speechless when I found out," Misiorowski told MLB.com. 

When asked about the criticism from fans and players, he had a ready answer.

"They're not upset with me" Misiorowski said. "The last five weeks have been insane. I thought the All-Star break would be a chance to sit down and reflect. Now we're here."

And it didn't take long to silence the critics.

And he hopefully earned the respect of those who criticized his selection. Misiorowski threw nine pitches over 100 mph during a scoreless eighth inning in the National League’s 7-6 victory in Atlanta.

That total is second in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) to only Aroldis Chapman, who reached triple digits 13 times in 2015.

Misiorowski faced Randy Arozarena, Alejandro Kirk, Jonathan Aranda and Zach McKinstry. The only hit he allowed was a changeup to Aranda.

If you really want to know an interesting fact, Tuesday night's All-Star Game was Misiorowski's second Summer Classic.

He was a fan at the 2012 All-Star Game that was played at Kauffman Stadium

Now, he a record-shattering big leaguer who has gone from stacking lumber to making it useless in the hands of an opposing hitter.

Dreams do come true. And I believe the best is yet to come for "The Miz."

His major-league success proves that good things do happen to good people.

​Especially a good person with a 100+ mph fastball.

Milwaukee Brewers rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, a 2020 Grain Valley High School graduate, poses for a photo with his parents Tom and Crystal following his MLB debut on June 12 in Milwaukee. The Misiorowski family has had a lot to cheer about this season as Jacob was named as a pitcher on the 2025 All-Star Game roster. Photo courtesy of Misiorowski family