The Tigers select Jackson Jobe third overall in the 2021 MLB Draft

With the third selection in the 2021 MLB Draft, the Tigers selected RHP Jackson Jobe out of Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma.

Coming into the draft season, the talk of the 2021 MLB Draft on the pitching side was whether or not Vanderbilt pitchers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker were going to go 1-2 in the draft. However, in the days leading up to the draft, the conversation was more geared towards whether Jobe, who impressed scouts of all stripes, could become the rare high school righty to be the first pitcher taken off the board period. That is the level of talent seen here.

Out of Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma, Jobe features a fastball that sits in the mid-90’s that has good life that he can throw effectively in any part of the zone. His best pitch, however, is his slider which has a high spin rate and might be the best pitch of any pitcher in the entire draft class. He can get swings and misses on out of the zone with it and throw it for strikes when he wants to. One of the more appealing things about Jobe as a prep pitcher is that he already throws a good changeup (which the lack of from most prep arms is often cited as a knock against the demographic in addition to their volatility) to go along with a curveball that gives him a fourth above average pitch out of high school. He has the frame to stick at starter and has some projectability on that frame to think there is more to come from him, so that combined with his current stuff that he seems to have an innate feel for makes it easy to see why he is so highly regarded.