Will Detroit Tigers Rising Star be Odd Man Out in Starting Rotation Battle?
With the offseason starting to wind down, the Detroit Tigers are in good shape heading into Spring Training.
Despite a quiet start to the winter, the Tigers have solidified some areas of need going into the season.
One area that the team wanted to address before the start of the campaign was their starting rotation. Even though they have a lot of options, adding a front-end starter to truly contend in the American League was important.
The reunion between Detroit and Jack Flaherty is excellent for both sides. Before being traded at the deadline last year, the veteran right-hander was 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA for the Tigers. His time in Detroit helped him turn things back around after a dreadful second half of the season in 2023 with the Baltimore Orioles.
For the Tigers, there was a clear need for another pitcher the caliber of Flaherty in the postseason last year. While Tarik Skubal is one of the best pitchers in baseball, he needed a sidekick in the playoffs.
With the addition of both Flaherty and Alex Cobb this winter, Detroit all of a sudden has a plethora of options to choose from in their rotation.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently wrote about what the starting rotation will look like for the Tigers on Opening Day. He highlighted that top prospect Jackson Jobe might not make the cut after a few additions in free agency.
“It will be interesting to see how Jackson Jobe, who is widely regarded as the best pitching prospect in baseball, fits into the 2025 plans," he wrote.
Even though Jobe is one of the best prospects in baseball, there is no guarantee that he will be in the starting rotation on Opening Day.
This is by no means a knock on his skill or the type of player that he could be, but there are some good options with experience now in a talented unit.
As of now, the rotations features, Skubal, Flaherty, Cobb, Reese Olson, and Casey Mize. It’s an impressive looking unit from top to bottom right now but there isn’t a clear spot for Jobe to take.
In the long term, Flaherty could just be in Detroit for one more year with how his contract is structured and Cobb is on a one-year deal. However, as of now, the best chance Jobe has to make the rotation is to beat out one of the other two talented young arms that the Tigers have.
When Spring Training gets rolling, it will be interesting to see how these young arms perform. Jobe got just a brief cup of tea with the team last year, so he might need a great spring to secure a rotation spot.
