Jackson Jobe was stuck between two worlds.
Teh Detroit Tigers right-hander had a locker in the Tigers clubhouse in Lakeland, Florida, along the same wall that included lockers for Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Justin Verlander and Jack Flaherty. But Jobe wasn’t really part of the team preparing for the 2026 regular season. Not the start of the season, at least.
It was late February and Jobe was part of the others. The guys who were recovering from injuries. Jobe was around but not really there. He wasn't even on the same schedule as the guys who were ramping up. He didn’t go on the spring training trips. He stayed back and did his rehab, trying to come back from Tommy John surgery.
“I think it's like, starting in mid-April, is when I'll be on the mound,”
Jobe told reporterson Saturday, Feb. 28.
It seemed like such a long way off. Then again, everything seemed to be in slow motion for this righty the Tigers selected out of high school in the first round (No. 3 overall) in the 2021 MLB Draft. He underwent surgery on June 16, 2025, to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. And he still needed to complete a long-toss program before he could get on the mound.
“Then it'll be a few lives and rehab outings,” Jobe said. “I think it'll just depend on how sharp I'm feeling, how quickly I can get my feel back. But as it stands right now, I feel pretty normal, which is kind of weird, but guess I'll take it.”
But you can never predict how fast somebody will return from injury.
When a reporter asked if Jobe could be pitching for the Tigers sooner than September, Jobe said: “What we have drawn up is quicker than that, for sure.”
But he offered no details.
And I was skeptical.
Nine games that changed everything
Jobe was part of the Tigers’ grand plan. Heading into 2026, they loaded up on starting pitchers. Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris was betting they would get through the regular season because of those arms. When young right-hander Troy Melton got healthy, and when Jobe returned to the Tigers, they would slip some of those starters into the bullpen for the stretch run and into the playoffs.
But that never happened, of course. Several starters got hurt early in the season, and the team collapsed in May. The Tigers had to move bullpen arms into the rotation, and Harris sold at the deadline.
When you view the Tigers' season in the big picture, there is no question it was disappointing and a blown opportunity. Because I still believe they started the season with enough talent to make a run in the postseason.
But when you look closer and focus on individual players, you can find several intriguing stories that will have an impact on 2027. Guys like Jobe.
Because Jobe did make it back before September. In fact, he returned in August, starting nine games and striking out 51 in 46 innings.
So, on Sunday, Sept. 27, the morning of the last day of the season, I made a point to talk to Jobe in the Tigers clubhouse. Because I wanted to know what he was taking from this season.
It turns out, those nine games changed everything.
Learning how to be a pitcher
Let me stress something else, to put all of this into the proper context.
Jobe came into this season with limited big-league experience. He pitched in two regular-season games in 2024 and then two postseason games. Then, he pitched in 10 games in 2025, recording 39 strikeouts with 27 walks in 49 innings before his injury.
“Honestly, I hadn't really gotten settled in at the big-league level yet,” he said. “I pitched all right. Definitely not to my standards or probably people's standards, just with being the high pick and prospect and all that stuff.”
That’s why those nine starts in 2026 were so critical for him and his growth.
“Getting in nine games this year was huge,” he said. “I had a handful of good starts at the back end, and kind of had one or two mostly good ones at the beginning.”
Was it perfect? No.
Most pitchers experience a roller coaster when returning from Tommy John. It just depends how big that roller coaster is. Cedar Point level? Or a one of those portable rides in a mall parking lot?
In the first few starts, Jobe learned what not to do.
“I was coming out of the gate throwing 100 mph,” he said. “Then in the fifth inning, I'd be a little bit tired.”
So, he learned how to pace himself.
“That was something that I found my last few starts,” he said.
At the same time, he was also learning a huge lesson in pitch usage.
“What pitches work in each situation,” he said. “How my usages should be, and all things that you can't really learn until you go out there and do it. So just being able to come out and log innings and let the hitters tell me what pitch, what role each pitch has. It's not something that I could learn in a bullpen setting. I can throw a bullpen with the best of them all day long and look as good as anyone. That's just a fact. But being able to come out here and actually do it in the game is a whole another thing.”
Lessons from Justin Verlander
As I talked to Jobe on the final day of the season, he seemed different from the player I talked to after the draft, in the minors or even at spring training.
“It's interesting, hearing you talk like that reminds me of what Verlander used to talk about, ramping up during a game,” I said. “You're talking like an older pitcher now. Does that make sense? “
“It does,” he said. “That's just part of learning. I'm expected to go six or seven and help the bullpen out. That's what JV talks about. It's kind of a lost art, being able to go out there and have your job being, all right, I'm going to save the bullpen. I have six, seven innings today. It’s finding the balance – not saving bullets, because you still want to be competitive – but having that like 95% that you kind of hang out at, and then you know being able to bump it up towards the back end of the game when you really need it.”
That’s what Jobe did in his final start. He struck out eight Pirates over 5⅓ innings on Friday, Sept. 25.
“I was getting stronger as the game was going,” Jobe said, “and I was kind of waiting until I felt like it was my last hitter to kind of empty the tank.”
Again, that’s talking like an experienced pitcher. Not a high-ranked prospect. Not a bullpen phenom.
The game against the Pirates showed how much he has learned about pitch usage and the tempo of a game.
Now, zoom back even more.
When you consider what Jobe did in September, the future becomes even more tantalizing. He pitched in four games, recording 32 strikeouts with just six walks in 22⅔ innings. He allowed just eight runs and had a 0.882 WHIP.
It was ace-level stuff. Ace-level pitching.
“Obviously starting to strike people out, which is all just usage and picking the right pitches in certain situations,” he said.
That’s a huge statement. He didn't mention his velocity. He didn't talk about just trying to throw it past guys. He’s talking about being a pitcher.
Now, remember something else: Jobe is just 24 years old and he's still learning, still impressionable, which is why having Verlander in the Tigers clubhouse for just the one season will pay dividends for years to come.
Jobe learned something else from Verlander, like how to prepare against each hitter.
“One of the things he does differently than me is he goes really deep into scouting reports, to where he wants to know what the right pitch is in every single count for every hitter,” Jobe said. “It's pretty crazy. For me, that hasn't really worked in the past. But I think hearing him say that, talk about that, there's probably room for me to add a little bit more to that, just so I have more knowledge of each hitter.”
So, Jobe plans to prepare differently between starts. Focusing on his opponents. Learning about tendencies and weaknesses.
Not just that, he plans to approach spring training differently. If he does it correctly, we won’t see him popping 100 mph in Lakeland. He wants to save those bullets for the season.
“I think I'll change my buildup quite a bit,” he said. “I learned a lot about the arm during the rehab. So it'll definitely change how I ramp up. I'll probably do a lot more low-intent throwing, building up volume, which is something I did coming off [Tommy John] that had my arm feeling about as good as it has ever felt. Honestly, the last few starts, it's the best that I've ever felt my life.”
“You say your arm feels better than you've ever felt right now,” I said. “You're pitching well. You have this knowledge now. Are you almost like, dang, why is this season ending?”
He smiled.
“Yeah, 100%,” he said. “It makes me pumped for next year. I know we're gonna go make some good moves [in free agency]. You know, we're gonna have a good team next year. Next year is gonna be special for this team.”
I have a feeling it’s going to be special for Jobe, too.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jackson Jobe proved he has ace-level stuff for Detroit Tigers
