There's a lot to be excited about when looking at the 2025 Detroit Tigers rotation. Tarik Skubal is the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and arguably the best pitcher in the sport right now. Jack Flaherty was an All-Star caliber arm when he was with the Tigers last season, and he signed back with Detroit late in the offseason, giving the team an excellent No. 2 starter in the process. Reese Olson is far from a big name, but he had a 3.53 ERA in 22 starts and 112.1 innings of work last season. He's a very capable No. 3 arm.
The back end of the rotation is where things get particularly interesting for Detroit, especially with Alex Cobb unlikely to be ready to go for Opening Day. Former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize figures to get another chance to prove he belongs at the MLB level, but who the fifth starter would be was sure to be decided in spring training.
Among the candidates figured to be 36-year-old Kenta Maeda coming off a lost season and 22-year-old Jackson Jobe, one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball. We all know who Tigers fans want to see in that fifth rotation spot (it isn't the guy who had an ERA over 7.00 as a starter last season), but he was going to have to prove himself in spring training. Well, Jobe's first opportunity to prove himself didn't exactly go to plan.
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Jackson Jobe's spring training debut might have been enough for the Tigers to start his season in Triple-A
The task at hand was sure to be a difficult one for Jobe, who was matched up against a lineup filled with several Baltimore Orioles regulars, including the likes of Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Tyler O'Neill. After a clean first inning, Jobe ran into trouble in the second.
The right-hander walked O'Neill on four pitches, and two pitches later, surrendered a two-run homer to Heston Kjerstad. It wasn't all bad for Jobe, who flashed some good stuff all afternoon and even struck Rutschman out on three pitches, but the second inning proved why now might not be the right time for him to be relied on in the MLB rotation.
Jobe struggled with his command in that second frame, and even when he found the zone against Kjerstad, that pitch was sent over the fence for a home run. There's no denying that his stuff is great, but command could be a bit of a work in progress. Stuff is important to have, but command is crucial for pitchers to get outs at the MLB level.
Had Maeda struggled in his first outing perhaps the vibe would be different, but to the surprise of many Tigers fans, he actually looked good. He was throwing harder than he did last season, and wound up throwing two scoreless innings.
Spring training shouldn't be judged so harshly for most, but for players on the fringes like Maeda and Jobe, their performances do mean something. Jobe will certainly get more chances to potentially flip the script, but early returns from spring training suggest that the last rotation spot could be Maeda's to lose, whether Tigers fans want to hear it or not.