Now that the Tigers have put themselves above the line in the American League Wild Card standings, they aim to keep themselves there with six games remaining. So they¡¯re bringing up a major reinforcement -- the top pitching prospect in baseball.

Detroit is calling up No. 6 overall prospect Jackson Jobe to its Major League roster, the club announced Monday. The Tigers open a three-game series against the Rays on Tuesday and play another three-game set at Comerica Park against the White Sox beginning Friday.

The 22-year-old right-hander posted a 2.36 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and .178 average-against and struck out 96 batters over a career-high 91 2/3 innings across High-A Double-A and Triple-A this season. All 21 of his Minor League appearances came as a starter, but he is expected to join the Detroit bullpen for this postseason push.

Jobe certainly has the stuff to pitch against Major League hitters right now, and it¡¯s possible that arsenal plays up even further in shorter relief stints.

Over his two most recent outings for Triple-A Toledo on Sept. 14 and Sept. 20, Jobe averaged 96.5 mph on his four-seam fastball and touched as high as 98.7. (You might remember he touched as high as 101.8 mph in a brief appearance back on March 12, giving him the fastest pitch measured by Statcast during 2024 Spring Training.) The pitch came with 16.9 inches of induced vertical break on average with 7.2 inches of armside movement, giving the pitch some rise and run along with the heat.

Jobe¡¯s 82-85 mph sweeping slider makes him a spin-rate darling with rpms reaching higher than 3,000 at times, while his 89-91 mph cutter, which he added officially to his repertoire last summer, gives him a shorter option. He can kill spin too with a mid-80s changeup that runs 15-16 inches armside and came in at just 1,725 rpm on average at Triple-A.

The 2021 third overall pick entered the professional ranks with a curveball but pocketed that to work primarily on his other offerings. He detailed his full arsenal in an edition of the MLB Pipeline Pitching Lab last year, noting his grips and ideal metrics for each of his four pitches.

Jobe¡¯s splits against righties (.162/.275/.260, 179 PA) and lefties (.193/.287/.263, 196 PA) were both impressive, meaning Tigers manager A.J. Hinch shouldn¡¯t worry too much about trying to protect his new arm against only same-side bats. It shouldn¡¯t come as a huge shock, however, that Jobe relied more on the sweeper (25.5 percent) against righties and was more changeup-reliant (26.9 percent) against lefties. He threw the fastball at least 37 percent of the time and the cutter at least 21 percent of the time against batters from both sides.

Moving their star hurler prospect to the ¡®pen makes sense for Detroit from both a need and workload standpoint.

Even though he¡¯s been limited by a left hamstring strain this season, Jobe is already 14 1/3 innings above his previous career high of 77 1/3. So while there¡¯s still some room to work with, a smaller role won¡¯t overextend him, even if there¡¯s a potential deep playoff run. Jobe also essentially replaces the DFA¡¯d Shelby Miller, who posted a 4.53 ERA on the season and had four walks to only one strikeout in four appearances this month.

Jobe did see an uptick in his walk rate this season from a miniscule 2.3 percent in 2023 to 12.0 in '24, perhaps underlining why it's even better for him to break through to the Majors as a bullpen arm. His depth and quality of overall pitches, however, should still make him a Tigers starter down the line and as early as next spring.

Detroit was under .500 as late as Aug. 25 and now has a chance to kickstart its window of contention with its first postseason appearance since 2014. Adding the game¡¯s top pitching prospect, even for an inning here or there, is a move made with this October very much in mind. Hinch should hand the ball to Jobe with three words that should be very familiar to anyone in the Motor City.

Let it rip.