Jacob Misiorowski on his arrival in the big leagues with Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski met with reporters a day before his expected big-league debut against St. Louis on June 12.
The excitement at American Family Field over the Milwaukee Brewers‘ impending promotion of top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski wasn’t exactly shared by everyone as the club prepped to face the Atlanta Braves on June 11.
The arrival of Misiorowski to an already-full starting rotation means that someone will have to shift to a different role — and that someone is one of the most veteran members of the pitching staff, Aaron Civale.
“He’s not happy,” manager Pat Murphy said.
Given the performance of the rest of the pitching staff, including rookie Chad Patrick and 24-year-old Quinn Priester, both of whom have minor-league options remaining, was such that Civale is currently at the bottom of the pecking order. That isn’t to say he’s pitched poorly – he has a 3.32 earned run average in four starts since returning from a hamstring strain – but the Brewers feel more comfortable with their other options in the rotation right now.
“Throughout his career, he’s been a successful starter in the major leagues, he helped us last year,” Murphy said. “He’s been fine. … Even though he’s never done it, we think he can handle that. You look at Civale’s third-time-around numbers, he might be better suited on this year’s team right now, to disrupt everything else less, if he can be in that long relief role.”
Given Civale is headed into free agency after this season for the first time in his career, it’s understandable the move wouldn’t exactly be met without some frustration. Civale was not available for comment June 11 after the Brewers announced the decision.
“He’s a guy that was a very helpful part to our team last year,” Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said. “We traded for him, he’s done a nice job here coming back off of injury. He’s done nothing wrong here, certainly, and I think that he’ll continue to get chances.
“And things can change. We used how many, 17, different starters last year? There’s always something that can happen where he can slide back into that role and he’s proven he can do that at a high level in the major leagues and especially here.
“Right now we think it’s the right move for him and the team.”