Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Jacob Misiorowski fulfilling his promise, and more

The most interesting moment for a young player is when they make their debut. The second-most interesting moment for a young player is right after they fail for the first time. I want to see what these young players look like after they've gotten punched in the mouth for the first time. What does their counterpunch look like? That's what separates the flashes in the pan from the superstars, who always have an answer for whatever their opponents throw at them.

After getting knocked around for the first time in his previous outing, Jacob Misiorowski got up off the mat, dusted himself off, and threw one heck of a counterpunch Tuesday against the Dodgers. It was the kind of performance that sure makes Misiorowski look like a budding superstar, if you were skeptical before.

Misiorowski held the Dodgers to just one run – on a leadoff homer by Shohei Ohtani – over six innings of work, while allowing three hits and one walk and striking out a career-high 12 batters. And what might have been most impressive about it is the growth Misiorowski showed from his first few starts, successful though they were. 

Misiorowski entered Tuesday's start having thrown four-seamers or sliders for 85% of his pitches, with his curveball and changeup making up the rest of them. In this one, Misiorowski lowered his fastball/slider usage to 72%, with his curveball taking on a much larger role, as he threw it 21% of the time. And it was incredible, garnering eight swinging strikes on 13 swings while generating weak contact the rare times the Dodgers actually got wood on it. The four-seamer was excellent as well, generating nine swinging strikes, while he added three with the slider and one more with the changeup for 21 on 91 pitches. 

It was a dominant performance, and it was by far the most impressive showing we've seen from Misiorowski so far. That's saying something, because he's been largely untouchable so far. The increased curveball and changeup usage was likely a result of the Dodgers throwing more lefties than righties in the lineup, as he threw all but two of his combined 25 of those pitches against lefties. But I do think Misiorowski should consider leaning on the curveball more often against all hitters after this one. 

He clearly commands the pitch fairly well, and as ridiculous as his slider looks, it hasn't been a great swing-and-miss pitch so far. Probably because, despite how it is classified, that pitch is much more of a cutter than a slider – it comes in at 94-95 mph with 7-8 inches of induced vertical break and about an inch of horizontal break. Call it a slider, call it a cutter – heck, call it a fastball – but despite the elite velocity, it hardly plays like your typical swing-and-miss slider. And he doesn't really use it like one, either, as he goes to it just 19% of the time with two strikes and typically throws it belt-high or higher on the glove side, rather than burying it like most pitchers do with their sliders. Compare that to Jacob deGrom, who might be Misiorowski's best comp already, and who throws his slider 43% of the time in two-strike counts and typically aims for the low, outside corner when doing so. It's a very different approach. 

Misiorowski's stuff is good enough to more than get by at the MLB level already. With very little refinement of his approach or command, he has put up a 2.81 ERA through his first five starts, with 33 strikeouts to 11 walks in 25.2 innings of work. But Misiorowski also has the stuff to do more than just get by, and Tuesday was a glimpse of how good he could be if he misses even more bats. 

Here's what else you need to know about from Tuesday's action around MLB: 

Wednesday's top waiver-wire targets

Kyle Bradish, SP, Orioles (13%) – Bradish's return from Tommy John surgery has gone pretty under the radar in Fantasy circles – just compare Bradish's relatively low roster rate to Shane Bieber's 59% rate. Both are on a similar timetable in their returns, with their rehab assignments likely to come in the next week or so and a return to the majors in late July or early August. Bradish has thrown two live batting practice sessions and will likely have one more before beginning his rehab assignment, and it's worth remembering just how good Bradish has been over the past few seasons: Across 2023 and 2024, he threw 208 innings with a 2.81 ERA and 26.5% strikeout rate. Pitchers coming back from major elbow surgery are never a sure thing, but Bradish looked like a burgeoning ace the last time we saw him, and it's worth stashing him just in case he can be that again down the stretch. 

Brayan Bello, SP, Red Sox (69%) – Six starts ago, Bello started throwing a cutter, and since then, he hasn't allowed more than three runs in a start, entering Tuesday's game with a 2.67 ERA in his previous five starts. So, of course, in the best start of his career, a 10-strikeout complete game, the cutter was a big part of his game plan, right? Not quite. Bello threw the pitch just three times in this one, as he mostly reverted to his pre-June pitch mix, leading with the sinker, leaning on the sweeper for whiffs, and throwing the four-seamer and changeup against lefties. The cutter hasn't exactly been a dominant pitch for Bello, so maybe it isn't a surprise that his best start came as he largely sidelined it. But the timing is strange … until you see who Bello was facing: The Rockies on the road, where they are hitting .208/.268/.343 as a team. I don't want to say this is just about the matchup, but I also don't think we should take this as a sign that Bello is making a leap to ace-dom. He's been pretty good over his past seven starts, sporting a 2.75 ERA with 36 strikeouts to 12 walks, but with a gauntlet coming up out of the second half – @CHC, @PHI, vs. LAD in their first three series – I don't really think we should be viewing Bello as a must-start pitcher moving forward, or anything.  

Cam Schlittler, SP, Yankees (41%) – Schlittler is officially making his MLB debut Wednesday against the Mariners, and while I think his roster rate doesn't really need to be any higher than this before he makes his debut, I am pretty interested to see what the 24-year-old looks like against MLB hitters. He has been one of the big breakouts in the Yankees system this season, sporting a 2.82 ERA and 31.9% strikeout rate while pitching his way to Triple-A. Schlittler is 6-foot-6 and delivers his pitches from a high arm slot, which helps his fastball play up even more than it otherwise would, leading to a very strong 14.1% swinging strike rate this season. He's had some issues with walks and has run an extremely high BABIP through the high minors (.350 this season), which means he'll probably need to miss a lot of bats to be successful. But he has the skills to do it, and I'm interested in seeing how this first start goes. 

Brandon Young, SP, Orioles (2%) – I've been waiting to see some upside from Young, who has performed well enough at Triple-A in his career to think there might be a chance of him being a rotation piece for the Orioles. He mostly failed to impress in his first four starts, but Tuesday against the Mets was different, as he struck out six over 5.1 innings of work, including, unbelievably, an immaculate inning. Young's velocity was up 1.1 mph on his four-seamer in this one, and he generated nine swinging strikes on just 66 pitches against a solid Mets lineup, so maybe he's worth a look in some deeper leagues heading into the second half.