SAN FRANCISCO – In the week or so since Tarik Skubal left for Los Angeles, the Detroit Tigers have rolled out two pitchers with similarly dynamic and dominant stuff.
No, they aren’t Skubal, even though they’ve thrown 19 combined innings of shutout baseball.
But they don’t need to be Skubal, either. They just need to be themselves, and if Troy Melton and Jackson Jobe continue to build on what we’ve seen – small sample size, obviously – the Tigers just replaced one of the best pitchers in baseball with a couple of youngsters who may make a similar claim in another season or two.
Or even now, if we’re being real, at least for one of them; Melton has been the best pitcher in the American League since his return from the IL in late May and held a league-leading 1.58 ERA entering Sunday’s series finale against San Francisco, for which he was scheduled to start.
Jobe made his season debut at Oracle Park Saturday, Aug. 8, after a 14-month absence. Actually, he made a statement. Call it an announcement, if you prefer. Then again, the 24-year-old who was drafted third overall in 2021 couldn’t wait to show what he’d been doing the last 14 months.
And show how hard he’d been working. So, yeah, maybe throwing 100 mph in the first inning, as he did, was a statement, and complimenting that heater with a three-pitch, off-speed mixer was a statement, too.
Jobe punched out a hitter with his changeup, his slider, and his curveball, and the man who caught him, who is making a statement himself this season, admitted Jobe didn’t even have his best changeup.
“He had a couple misses here and there,” said Dingler, “but I didn’t think it was too erratic. He got weak contact. Had some extra punch when he needed to … he did great today.”
Wait, extra punch?
How about franchise-altering punch? That’s what Jobe showed Saturday, though if all he had were heat A.J. Hinch would not have been grinning in his office after the Tigers beat the Giants, 8-0.
“Teams can time up 100 miles an hour,” said Hinch. “You have to have something different, and he did today.”
Not a thrower, a pitcher
Jobe is a pitcher, not just a flamethrower.
“He’s got real pitches,” said Hinch, “and he can change speeds and he can do a lot of things that a hitter has to deal with. You could see how uncomfortable [Giants hitters] were.”
Jobe could see it, too, and feel it, which is right up there with the best feeling in the world when you’re a pitcher, and you know the hitter has no idea what’s coming, and even if he does, still can’t catch up, or square up, and all they can do is hope they luck up.
Jobe smiled at the thought of it. Partly because he smiles a lot – it’s part of his resting, and boyish face – and partly because he just overcame Tommy John surgery, a grueling, year-plus rehab, and his nerves as he took the mound Saturday afternoon.
“Kind of felt like a second debut, to be honest,” he said.
What was the toughest part, someone asked?
“Probably not knowing what to do with myself l when I took the field,” he said, chuckling. “I was excited … excited to show everyone what the past 14 months were about, how hard I worked.”
And so, he took a deep breath, had a bit of conversation with himself, said not to overthrow, and then hit 100.1 mph in the first inning anyway.
“I didn’t feel like I was trying to light up the radar gun,” he said, sheepishly, “though I did keep looking at the scoreboard.”
Throwing gas
Not that he needed to. He could feel the ball coming out as well as it ever has. And other than a few misses here and there, as Dingler noted, he could feel the command.
“Electrifying stuff,” said Hinch, “he really got into the game with his best stuff and good locations and then worked his way through almost a perfect outing in terms of what we were trying to accomplish.”
Compete. Stay healthy. Get the nerves out of the way.
Five shutout innings were a bonus and helped the Tigers win. Hinch and the club believe this is the beginning, of course, and that everyone saw Saturday why his return held such anticipation within the clubhouse.
“He’s going to be a huge part of our team down the stretch,” said Dingler. “Obviously, we just lost two starters.”
Neither Jobe nor Melton are trying to step into those shoes – Melton said as much last week in Seattle. And Jobe said Saturday he “wanted to prove to myself – and everybody else – that I belonged back here after surgery.”
Both have designs and goals and dreams and have shown they have the stuff. Elite stuff. Top-of-the-rotation stuff.
Yes, it’s early, and context is important, but the talent is obvious. So are the possibilities.
A little more than a week ago, this franchise lost a towering presence on the mound. Funny how much can change in eight days.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jackson Jobe’s debut puts Tarik Skubal trade in rearview mirror
Reporting by Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
