Misiorowski collects prestigious award after just one month in MLB

On June 12, at long last, the Milwaukee Brewers promoted their top pitching prospect, Jacob Misiorowski, and immediately threw him into a matchup against their hated division foe, the St. Louis Cardinals. Not only did Misiorowski answer that call, in emphatic fashion, but he answered the next two calls as well — a Friday night road start against the streaky Minnesota Twins and a marquee matinee against one of the game’s best pitchers in Paul Skenes.

For those three starts during the second half of June, The Miz was awarded an elusive NL Rookie of the Month award. Not rookie pitcher of the month or Brewers pitcher of the month, no, despite not being called up until the middle of June, Misiorowski was deemed the best rookie in all of the National League over the course of the last month — and rightfully so.

Jacob Misiorowski named NL Rookie of the Month in June

It's not hard to see why The Miz took home the NL Rookie of the Month honor despite making just three starts; he was absolutely dominant in those three appearances. In three starts, the 23-year-old right-hander earned three wins and allowed three hits. You read that right, it was as common for The Miz to win a game as it was for him to allow a hit. Two of his three starts were five-inning shutouts (one was a five-inning no-hitter), and in the other start, Miz took a perfect game bid into the 7th inning before allowing a walk and two-run homer. In the end, Misiorowski flipped the calendar to July with a 1.13 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 16 innings pitched during the month of June.

For the purposes of this award, it is lucky that Misiorowski's first bad outing came on July 2, and therefore didn't affect his candidacy for the June NL Rookie of the Month award. While his poor start against the Mets was unfortunate, it should not soon be forgotten just how dominant the Brewers' rookie was in his first three starts.

That dominance is evidenced by the fact that Misiorowski, in his first month in MLB, became just the second Brewers pitcher to ever win NL Rookie of the Month, joining long-time Brewers ace Ben Sheets, who earned the honor back in June of 2001. Additionally, Misiorowski is the first pitcher to win Rookie of the Month this season, showing just how difficult it is for a starter to take home the award, given that they essentially have to string together at least three really good starts in order to win.

It's clear that the Brewers have something special in Misiorowski. While there may be some growing pains, a talent with this much potential has not climbed the mound in a Brewers uniform in quite some time — maybe ever.