MLB Trends: Jacob Misiorowski is Unreal, CJ Abrams is on Fire

There is nothing left to say about Jacob Misiorowski, he is a video game final boss on the mound.

He is human though, and he did deal with some fatigue around the break.

But, the Brewers have rested him a bit the last few weeks, and a fresh Misiorowski wreaked havoc on the Rockies on July 26th.

He struck out each of the first SEVEN hitters he faced, and then 12 of his first 13!

His heater SAT at 102.8, maxing at 104.7 MPH. All 66 of his four-seamers were above 100 MPH, breaking his own record for most triple-digit pitches in one outing.

However, it wouldn’t be a scoreless outing. Cole Carrigg clipped him with a pretty ridiculous swing on a 101.9 MPH pitch out of the zone for a home run.

That was actually the first pitch over 100 MPH ever tracked that a Rockie has hit for a home run. 

Regardless, the Miz threw five innings of one-run ball with 12 strikeouts to drop his season ERA to 1.58 in an 11-2 Brewers win. 

Not counting the 2026 Brewers, Misiorowski at 762 has more 100+ MPH pitches this season than ANY TEAM has had in any season in the Pitch Tracking Era (2008).

If he maintains health, I find it hard to see anyone overtaking him in his Cy Young race. 

Is CJ Abrams breaking his second half curse?

The last two seasons have literally been the same exact story for CJ Abrams, an OPS a shade under .750 with 31 steals and roughly 20 homers.

But to dig deeper, these seasons both saw monster first halves followed by brutal second-half slumps. A .833 OPS vs .613, he goes from Christian Yelich to Patrick Bailey.

But the 3rd time might be the charm.

Look, I’d understand if you were a bit skeptical of his hot start to the second half considering his first two series were played in Sacramento and Denver, but you cannot say that anymore.

Against the D-Backs in D.C., it was eight hits in 14 at-bats, with three homers and six RBI in a Nationals series win. The finale saw Abrams and his co-star Wood, who also had a notable second-half slump last year, both homer twice. 

Since the break, Abrams has seven home runs in nine games, which matches his total from 62 games in the 2025 second half. 

On the year, Abrams is now hitting .297 with a .953 OPS. His 27 home runs and 82 RBI are both career highs. 

Abrams leads MLB in RBI while James Wood leads the sport in runs scored by 24. 

Wood’s 135 runs produced and Abrams’ 121 rank first and second in the sport.

The Nationals are in a weird spot. They are definitely within the playoff picture, but they probably lack the pitching depth to go on a real run.

However, if these two keep up the pace, I guess anything is possible. 

Is PCA the NL MVP?

“Pete Crow-Armstrong is putting pressure on Shohei Ohtani in the MVP race.”

A statement that would have seemed wild two months ago is now a lukewarm take 

With a strong series against Pittsburgh that included a four-hit, three extra-base hit game, PCA is at 7 fWAR on the season, two clear of any other position player and ahead of 2-way Ohtani by roughly a win.

He has 23 homers, 29 steals, and 20 outs above average. I don’t know if any player can be more of an athlete on the diamond. 

Although it hasn’t been like this all season. He started slow, funny enough, but since May 30th, he has a 5.3 fWAR in 47 games.

And if WAR is not your thing, that is fine; it was still 17 homers, 14 steals, and a 1.233 OPS in that span after the four-hit game. 

Pete Crow-Armstrong has completely evolved as a player since last year.

He has added way more bat speed, is drawing way more walks, and has boosted his quality of contact.

Mechanically, PCA dropped his hands, moved closer to the plate, and moved his feet closer together.

Since being moved to the leadoff spot at the end of May, things have just been clicking for Pete Crow-Armstrong. 

Shohei Ohtani has been dealing with knee issues, and considering how clear the Dodgers are of everyone else in the West and the depth they are getting back down the stretch, they have no reason to really push Ohtani on the mound.

So if Pete Crow-Armstrong sticks the landing in 2026, he may join Aaron Judge as the only guys to beat Ohtani for an MVP since he entered his prime.

Dylan Cease is heating up…

Dylan Cease is having one of those heaters again.

Two starts ago, he brought a no-hitter into the 9th in San Francisco and struck out 11, but he was somehow better two starts later against the hottest team in MLB. 

In Boston on July 25th, Cease’s velocity was down early; he opened the game with a 92.7 MPH pitch.

It started to creep up after, but regardless, it was seven innings of shutout baseball with six strikeouts, and just one hit allowed on an extremely inside pitch to Andruw Monasterio.

But this is where the Blue Jays went to the bullpen for Dylan Cease’s velocity.

His eight hardest pitches of the day were in the final two innings, including 98.5 MPH in the ninth. 

That allowed him to record each of his final six outs by way of the K, to secure a complete-game shutout one-hitter with 12 strikeouts. 

His 10th career start of at least seven innings and at most one hit allowed, the 5th most ever.

As I alluded to earlier, this is nothing new for Cease. 

This start was actually on the two-year anniversary of his lone career no-hitter to this point against the Nationals. An outing that capped off a three-start stretch where Cease threw 22 innings, allowed just two hits, and struck out 30. 

On the season, Cease is at a 2.46 ERA over 113 innings with 167 strikeouts. 

He is forcing himself back into the Cy Young conversation, but Cam Schlittler is not letting go of his frontrunner status easily. 

Cam Schlittler: MLB’s Road Warrior

On Friday, Cam Schlittler went into Philadelphia and quieted the crowd.

It was seven shutout innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks to lower his ERA to 2.07 in a 1-0 Yankees win. Jesus Luzardo on the other side was great, but Schlittler was otherworldly. 

But this start pushed one of Schlittler’s splits into historic territory. 

You see, if you break up his 2.07 ERA, it is a 3.83 at home over 47 innings, while it is a wild 1.08 on the road over 83 innings. 

If the season ended today, that would be the fourth-best road ERA ever among pitchers who threw at least 80 frames on the road. 

Only trailing 1968 Bob Gibson and 1912-13 Walter Johnson. One guy who was so good they had to lower the mound and another who pitched in a time period referred to as the “Dead-Ball Era.”

ERA is a very fragile stat, but I think this speaks to the type of competitor Schlittler is. He is a guy who easily gets pissed off, and clearly uses trash talk from others to fuel his performance in a positive way. 

Definitely a trait you would want in an ace.