DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers have a need at shortstop, both at the major league level and in the prospect ranks.
High school shortstop Marcelo Mayer fits what the Tigers needed.
The number one overall prospect in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft was available Sunday when the Tigers picked at third overall.
Instead of taking the kid from California, Detroit selected high school pitcher Jackson Jobe from Oklahoma.
"In terms of Marcelo Mayer, I think he is a great player, I think he is a tremendous infielder, a great shortstop and I think he would have filled a lot of needs," Road to Detroit Podcast host and Whitecaps play-by-play announcer Dan Hasty said. "Even if that had been the case, I think we still would have been hoping that the Tigers would go out and find a shortstop over the next 12 months."
High school pitchers like Jobe tend to take longer to develop.
There is some thought that the son of professional golfer Brandt Jobe could be different, however.
"To get somebody who is just 18 years old, they think he is pretty advanced," Hasty said about the Tigers first pick in the 2021 MLB draft. "So I don't think this is a typical high school pitcher situation. I think we are used to seeing players go to the lowest levels of the minor leagues in this situation, work it out and eventually three, four, five years down the road we see them in the big leagues. I think this could be an exception, I think we could see him there faster than that."
There is always injury concern when it comes to pitchers.
Jobe throws hard and has a high spin rate, things that often lead to injury.
He does not have a lot of miles on his arm as he was a highly thought of as position player at Heritage Hall High School as well.
"The fact that he has a very low inning count and a very clean delivery to go along with it, I think that is a good sign," Hasty said. "The fact that they were willing to take a pitcher, a high school pitcher with the number three overall pick, to me that says that from a medical standpoint they have absolutely no concerns, it's a total green light situation they don't have anything they worry about."
Hasty says he believes we could see Jobe pitching in West Michigan at some point next season.
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