'I was just ripping': Jobe commanding in 'electric' outing vs. Bucs

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Jackson Jobe came into Spring Training looking for more strikeouts after not getting many swings and misses in his brief big league stint last season. He came out of his last start looking to finish off hitters from two-strike counts. He found what he wanted Sunday afternoon on the sun-drenched field of LECOM Park, and he put on a show in the Tigers’ 10-4 win over the Pirates that reminded people why the 22-year-old is one of baseball’s best pitching prospects.

“That was cool,” shortstop Trey Sweeney said. “They were asking me how old Jobe was, just because he’s so electric.”

Jobe’s sixth pitch of the day was a 99.7 mph fastball, according to Statcast, that Pirates leadoff hitter Tommy Pham fouled off to stay alive. Undeterred, Jobe followed by spotting a 99.8 mph heater on the outer edge for a called third strike.

“I talked about it after my last outing [Tuesday against the Orioles]: Too many three-ball counts,” Jobe said. “Especially after being ahead, [I was] trying to be too nasty in two-strike counts. So I worked on it all week. My mindset going into the game was to get to two strikes and don’t let up on the gas pedal, just keep throwing strikes.”

After getting Bryan Reynolds to pop out meekly with an excuse-me swing on a changeup, Jobe set up former National League MVP Andrew McCutchen with a cutter, a changeup and 99.4 mph fastball for a three-pitch strikeout.

“I was just ripping,” Jobe said.

Jobe went back to the fastball in the second inning against Nick Gonzales and Ke’Bryan Hayes for back-to-back groundouts to third. Just when it looked like he was pumping velocity again, he set up Minor League slugger Darick Hall with a curveball and a changeup before spinning another curve at 3107 rpm for a three-pitch strikeout.

“We’re trying to push him out there to make him use it,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s important for him to get feedback. The hitter’s gonna give feedback, the performance, the metrics. But how he feels matters. And so, the more confidence he can have with it, the more he’s going to use it.”

Jobe developed the curveball over the offseason as a swing-and-miss pitch to play off his fastball. He threw a few Tuesday against the Orioles with mixed results. On Sunday, after Jobe worked on a mental cue with it during the week, it had enough cross movement and velocity that it registered as a sweeper on Statcast.

“It’s probably still sweeping a little bit,” Jobe explained, “but it’s got way more depth than it did last year. It’s a little bit of a two-plane [breaking ball]; got some sweep and some depth. But I’m throwing it harder. I’m getting takes on it. I got a whiff today, so it’s right where I want it to be.”

Jobe threw 21 of his 29 pitches for strikes, including three swings and misses to go with eight called strikes. He did not reach a three-ball count, let alone walk anyone.

“At this level, you have to beat guys in the zone to open the sort of borderline strikes,” Hinch said. “Challenging him to challenge the strike zone, get to two strikes as fast as possible and then find a way to get out of the at-bat positively, and he can really do some things with the ball.”

Jobe’s lone run allowed came on the first pitch of his third and final inning, a cutter that Henry Davis charged for a home run, his third off Tigers pitching in Grapefruit League play since last Spring Training.

All three runs Jobe has allowed so far this spring have come off home runs. But the strikeouts, the quality of pitches and the aggressiveness in the strike zone are helping make his case to take one of the two open spots in Detroit’s rotation. His next outing lines up to be another road test against the same Blue Jays squad that hit Detroit pitching well a couple of days ago, including back-to-back homers off high-spin starter Reese Olson. But displays like Sunday show why Jobe doesn’t have to back down against any hitter when his stuff is working.

“He showed the reason why we’re excited about him,” Hinch said.