How Jobe is facing MLB hitters outside of Grapefruit League

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Before Kerry Carpenter returned from a left hamstring strain to make his Spring Training debut Tuesday against Atlanta ace Spencer Strider, he took his hacks against a potential future All-Star.

While the Tigers were taking their swings on the field at Joker Marchant Stadium, arguably one of the best battles of camp was taking place on the back fields at Tigertown: Carpenter stepping into the batter’s box against Tigers top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe, the No. 3 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s latest Tigers prospect rankings.

Until Tuesday, this was the closest either of them had come to big competition in Spring Training. It turned out to be a valuable learning experience for both sides.

“I got to face him a good amount of times,” Jobe said. “It was fun, for sure. I got some good feedback.”

While Jobe learned what he needs to do to succeed against Major League hitters, Carpenter learned a bit about the future of Detroit’s rotation.

“He got me a couple of times,” Carpenter acknowledged, “but after a while I started seeing him a little better. But that guy’s pretty good. I hope he’s in Detroit here soon.”

That last part isn’t imminent. The Tigers told Jobe on the first day that he’s in big league camp to observe and learn from Major Leaguers, not to try to make Detroit’s Opening Day roster. They’ve kept him out of Grapefruit League games, ramping up his throwing on a slower timetable. At some point, he’ll head to Minor League camp to pitch in games there and prepare for his upcoming season at Double-A Erie.

But as long as he’s in big league camp, he can help Major Leaguers prepare. That includes Carpenter, who spent days seeing pitches in live batting practice to keep his timing so that he’d be ready to hit when cleared to return.

Jobe faced Carpenter and catcher Carson Kelly in his second live batting practice of camp. Unlike his previous session, they added game situations, keeping track of balls and strikes and letting at-bats play out.

Not surprisingly, the 21-year-old didn’t back down.

“I got Kerry a couple of times, and then he got me towards the end,” Jobe said. “It was good getting feedback from those guys about how my stuff looked and what pitches to throw when. Stuff like that, it’s not stuff you can get down at the other side [on the Minor League side of camp] or really anywhere. That feedback from hitters like that is priceless.”

Carpenter said he started tracking Jobe’s pitches better after a few at-bats. That was a lesson for Jobe, echoing something former Tigers instructor Steve Smith told him: "The pitch that got you drafted isn’t necessarily the pitch that will get you to the Majors."

“My slider’s always been my best pitch,” Jobe said. “Now with everyone around the league throwing sweepers, guys have just gotten so used to seeing big, sweeping sliders, I’m having to figure out how to mix my other pitches to set up my slider. In the past, I’ve just been able to grip and rip my slider and guys would swing at it. That’s probably been the biggest thing I’ve learned just from throwing two [live BP sessions], learning to mix in the cutter.

“I’ll have to mix up my usages a little bit more this year to get that slider back to where it needs to be. But that’s just pitching. Like, the slider itself is still the same. It’s just, how do you set it up for guys? You look at guys that were throwing sweepers two years ago versus now, and it’s like a night-and-day difference. And the more hitters see a pitch, the better they’re going to hit it.”