Two young Detroit Tigers pitchers tried new adjustments this week.
Considering the outcomes, that's an encouraging development.
The Tigers dropped a three-game series to the first-place Tampa Bay Rays this week, with the Rays capping the series with a 3-0 shutout at Comerica Park on Wednesday, Aug. 26.
Despite the loss, the game featured an efficient seven-inning performance from second-year starter Troy Melton, who for the first time this season ditched his windup and threw all 84 pitches from the stretch.
Melton's results may not have looked too different from his typical performance, with the righty putting together his ninth quality start out of 16 appearances in 2026. But with slight changes to pitching mechanics often leading to drastic results,
Melton abandoning his windup for one start is a notable change.
And its one Tigers fans should keep an eye on, as Melton continues to develop into someone who could be their Opening Day starter in 2027.
Troy Melton stretches it out
According to Melton, the idea to go stretch-only for his start against the Rays had nothing to do with feel or mechanics, but cold-hard data.
"Looking at some numbers in between starts, my numbers with guys on base versus not, they're pretty different," Melton said after the game. "I've been struggling out of the windup over the last while now, and so that was kind of the thought behind it."
"Pretty different" is underselling Melton's performance with and without runners on base.
Entering Wednesday's game, Melton had given up a slash line of .234/.303/.443 to opposing batters with the bases empty over 221 plate appearances. Opposing hitters were putting up an OPS 46% higher than league average against Melton without runners on, with nine home runs and 18 walks added to the total.
But with runners on this season, Melton might as well be prime Pedro Martinez. Hitters were batting .130/.194/.171 with one home run over 134 plate appearances. Forget ace-worthy – those are easily Hall of Fame stats.
Melton doesn't know for sure whether pitching exclusively out of the stretch is the reason for his success, but he decided to give it a try against the Rays.
And though four of the seven hits Melton allowed on Wednesday came with runners on base (two of them in the two-run second inning that essentially decided the game), the righty was happy with what he saw in his adjustment.
"Honestly, execution-wise, it was definitely much better," Melton said. "I don't think it negatively affected the stretch in any way."
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said that he would have put Melton out for the eighth inning had circumstances been different, likely if the Tigers didn't have a day off on Thursday and needed extra length from their starter. Otherwise, he liked what he saw out of Melton, even though the righty notched his third loss of the season.
"He gave us a chance to hang in the game. We just didn't do anything [on offense]," Hinch said of the two-hit performance.
Melton said he doesn't think the stretch-only change will be permanent, even though he took positives from the one-game experiment.
But another young Tigers pitcher had an even wilder experiment this week, one that might stick for a long time.
Jackson Jobe throws a curveball
Jobe on Tuesday wasn't as effective as Melton, allowing one run, four hits and three walks over just 4⅓ innings in a 4-1 win. But one pitch in particular looked about as electric as anything a Tigers pitcher has thrown this season.
Jobe threw 15 curveballs on the night, much more than usual, averaging over 85 mph on the breaking pitch. That was more than 4 mph above his season average, with Jobe's harder curveball looking either like an major adjustment or a Statcast misread.
But as Jobe explained after the game on Tuesday, those fast curveballs were something he discovered while throwing the day before.
"I didn't really know what what I was gonna get going into today, but I thought it was good," he said. "Seeing what it did today kind of turned into a real weapon, in my opinion ... I'll try to get more comfortable with it, and it should continue to get better."
When asked if the change was going to be permanent, Jobe kept it brief: "Definitely, 100%."
Jackson Jobe, 86mph Hammer. 🔨 pic.twitter.com/xdt3hOC539
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 25, 2026
Hinch sees games like these as learning experiences for his young pitchers, especially Jobe, who is just four starts into his return from Tommy John surgery in 2025.
"We just gotta allow him to grow and learn and work through these situations because he's got plenty of stuff and he's going to throw a ton of strikes," he said. "Sometimes at this level, at this time of year, and given where our team is, it's sometimes hard to recognize and maybe even appreciate that he's really, really early in his career of learning what this level is all about and what his potential is."
Jobe is not a finished product, and neither is Melton, for that matter. Combined, they have just over 200 big league innings pitched, at one point less than a full season of work for a healthy starter.
If this season ends with the Tigers out of a playoff spot (and the odds look pretty good of that happening with FanGraphs giving them a 2.6% chance to make the postseason as of Wednesday), Jobe and Melton are giving Tigers fans a reason to be hopeful for 2027. And on the off chance the Tigers pull off another improbable September playoff push, those two youngsters at the top of the rotation may end up some of the biggest reasons why.
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Troy Melton, Jackson Jobe find good results with big pitching changes
