Detroit Tigers Top Prospect's Awful Playoff Debut Creates Huge Roster Decision
The Detroit Tigers shocked the baseball world when they called up their top prospect at the end of the regular season and now they may regret doing it so soon.
Jackson Jobe was then kept on for the Tigers 'pitching chaos' bullpen in their Wild Card series against the Houston Astros after looking solid to start his big league career.
After Tarik Skubal led a gem of a first game against the Astros, Jobe was not needed. As they called on a bullpen game for the second game, he was put on notice.
It was a second straight day of the Houston offense looking lifeless when A.J. Hinch pulled the rookie into action in the bottom of the seventh inning as Detroit held a 1-0 lead off of a Parker Meadows solo shot the inning before.
As the heart of the Astros order had already passed, now seemed like the best time to get the former No. 3 overall selection some game time.
On the first pitch of his postseason career, Jobe plucked Victor Caratini with a cutter. Jeremy Pena hit a sinker off of a 97 MPH fastball and all of a sudden there were two on with no outs. Mauricio Dubon then reached on a bunt to load the bases.
Much to the surprise of many watching, Hinch continued to let the rook pitch as the lefty Jon Singleton came up to bat. Singleton grounded into a fielder's choice, but a throwing error by Spencer Torkelson kept all runners safe as a run came home to tie the game.
Jose Altuve then drove in another run on a sacrifice fly to give Houston a 2-1 lead.
Sean Guenther came in and did what he's done a lot of lately, shut things down. He quickly got the Tigers out of the jam as he got a double play ball out of Kyle Tucker.
The shaky performance from Jobe did not end up dooming Detroit, as he was taken off the line for the loss just an inning later, but it does start to raise questions about how he will be used for the rest of the playoffs.
A crucial hit from Andy Ibanez then went on to keep the postseason alive.
AJ Hinch now needs to decide if they can trust Jobe to stay in the pen for a series against the high-powered Cleveland Guardians offense. He's obviously a very talented pitcher, but is he ready for the moment?
