Detroit Tigers' Jackson Jobe now rated top minor league pitcher by MLB Pipeline
The Detroit Tigers now have the top pitching prospect in the minor leagues, according to MLB Pipeline's latest top 100 list.
Tigers right-hander Jackson Jobe, the No. 3 pick of the 2021 draft, is rated as the 10th best prospect in baseball, as well as the top-rated pitcher still in the minor leagues. He is the second-highest pitcher on the list behind Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes (No. 2), who made his highly anticipated MLB debut in a win over the weekend.
MLB Pipeline updated its top 100 list as some top prospects who started the season in the big leagues — such as Tigers second baseman Colt Keith and Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio — have met the 45 days of service time requirement to be considered a major leaguer. Early season statistics were also considered in the new list.
The Tigers have three prospects in the updated list, all falling in the top 50. Outfielder Max Clark, the organization's top pick in 2023 (at No. 3 overall), is the 13th-best prospect on the list and infielder Jace Jung, their 2022 first-rounder, checks in at No. 48. In the offseason rankings, Clark was ranked No. 13, while Keith was at No. 22 and Jobe was at No. 25. Jung also jumped up from his spot at No. 60 in the offseason list.
Jobe was one of the players who moved the most up the rankings. MLB Pipeline's Sam Dykstra wrote tht Jobe has impressed with his velocity, which consistently hovers in the triple digits, while having a legit four-pitch mix with a fastball, cutter, slider and changeup.
He has been limited in what he has been able to show this season due to a hamstring strain he suffered May 1 in a start for Double-A Erie. So far, he has completed 16⅔ innings this season, posting a 2.16 ERA with 10 walks and 24 strikeouts. He had a 2.82 ERA with 11 walks and 103 strikeouts in 79⅔ innings last season. Despite the injury, the plan for him to throw triple-digit innings this summer hasn't been impacted so far.
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"He was starting to dominate Double-A," Ryan Garko, the Tigers' vice president of player development, told the Free Press on the "Days of Roar" podcast last week, "so we'll get him back healthy, get him back there to Erie and let him keep pitching."
There isn't a set timeline for when Jobe could arrive in Detroit to strengthen the Tigers' arsenal of arms, but he showed in spring training that he has the stuff to stick in the big leagues. He drew a crowd of current big-league pitchers with a bullpen session at the start of camp, and delivered gas for a save in his only appearance with Detroit in Lakeland.
"In terms of the stuff, we all saw it this spring training," Garko said on Days of Roar. "You had guys like (Tarik) Skubal and (Casey) Mize and (Matt) Manning watching him. It is different."
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Jackson Jobe jumps to No. 10 in MLB Pipeline top 100
