MLB Insiders Predicts Tigers Top Prospect to Win American League Rookie of the Year
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Opening Day is right around the corner, and with that comes the finalization of Major League rosters.
The Detroit Tigers 26-man roster is nearly solidified, and their starting rotation should make some noise.
Tarik Skubal will obviously be the ace of the staff, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson and Casey Mize will follow.
The most intriguing part of the rotation is their top prospect, Jackson Jobe. Jobe was recently given the final spot in the starting rotation, so he will pitch every fifth day for the Tigers this year.
With him on the Major League roster, there is a lot ecitement heading into the season as Detroit looks to make the playoffs for the second year in a row.
MLB.com polled 59 of their writers, and a majority of them picked the Tigers No. 1 prospect to win the American League Rookie of the year Award.
The 22-year-old made his MLB debut last season, but he appeared in just two games out of the bullpen. However, he threw four innings, allowed just one hit and struck out two batters. Even with his limited action in the Majors, the Tigers decided to put him on the playoff roster.
In the postseason last year, Jobe had his struggles. He allowed five hits in 1.2 innings pitched while giving up three runs and no strikeouts.
He seems to have flushed his poor postseason this spring, though.
In spring training, the right-handed pitcher has made four starts, thrown 12.1 innings, struck out eight batters, allowed just seven hits and his ERA is 3.65. The one knock on Jobe is he has allowed four home runs in his four games pitched.
He has not struck out a lot of big league hitters, and that does not seem to be his style of pitching in the MLB. In the minors, the former first-round pick was able to strike out more than one batter per inning, and he allowed an opponent batting average of just .213 because of that.
In the Majors, the No. 5 prospect in the MLB seems to be more of a pitcher that will rely on weak contact and missing barrels. He will strike out some batters, but it does not seem to be his main plan of attacl.
FanGraphs Steamer projections have Jobe projected to finish with a 6.9 K/9 while throwing 130 innings. Additionally, his predicted ERA is 4.65 with a FIP even higher than that.
Still, the big righty should be expected to have a big season. If he can miss a few more bats while keeping the ball in the yard, the Tigers will have a future ace at the back end of their rotation.
If he does win the award, he will be the first Tiger to do so since 2016, and just the sixth player to win the Rookie of the Year award in Detroit's history.
Cameron Zunkel is a sports writer from the western suburbs of Chicago. He played Division-II baseball at the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned a masters degree in Communication. Cameron also played independent league baseball for the Joliet Slammers and Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. He has been in journalism for the better part of two years now, and has a passion for baseball specifically. His other work includes writing sports betting articles for ClutchPoints. In his free time, you can catch Cam at the gym, on the golf course, or coaching the youth in the beautiful sport of baseball.