Jackson Jobe, 2025 Fantasy Outlook

So, I hinted at this in my Jasson Dominguez fantasy when I called him my top rookie for 2025 fantasy baseball. I said Itch gave me two rookies to choose from for the top 2025 fantasy baseball prospect and it was between a hitter and pitcher for him. He sided with Jackson Jobe. I went Jasson Dominguez, but he was not the hitter Itch gave me (I’ll get to who that was in the next day or so). After the season we just saw from Paul Skenes, I can’t say I completely hate the idea of a pitcher being the top rookie. Itch could be right and me, a belly-itcher. There was no top rookies who were pitchers in the last decade plus, prior to Skenes. Seems like every year the Braves put a Shroud of Touki on a rookie pitcher and they perform well — Ian Anderson anyone? By the by, Ian Anderson is now out of baseball and performing puppet shows at bar mitzvahs as The Great Touki Toussaint, and the real Touki sued him. What a mess, huh? Hope they can work it out. Any hoo! Rookie pitchers in the last decade? Maybe only Skenes reached that mountaintop, but there were some who were solid — Devin Williams was pretty sweet. I enjoyed Shota Imanaga. Kodai Senga the year before? Yamamoto? Yummers when healthy–Okay, all Asian imported pitchers. Sixto was once good, for a year. Dustin May was solid. Jesus Luzardo was great. Okay, so every rookie starter, who is not an import from Asian, overextends themselves their rookie season, and can’t pitch ever again. My point is Jackson Jobe has the odds against him to be the top rookie for 2025 fantasy baseball, but, since the Tigers have already called him up, he’s over that, the most pesky of hurdles, will he break camp? (By the by, the pesky hurdle is not a pole. Weird, right?) With that hurdle behind Jobe, I’m absolutely interested. So, what can we expect from Jackson Jobe for 2025 fantasy baseball?

First off, let’s look at some Jackson Jobe highlights (see ya on the other side!):

I admittedly gasped after that. Here’s another:

Okay, fair to ask why is that change working so well. Here ya go:

Go home, bro, you’re sick, and might be contagious. I usually stick to the Rule of Three for the clips, but I need to show one more:

Goofy. Now, for the less good, or at least confusing, he wasn’t that good in Double-A. In 73 2/3 IP, he had a 9.9 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9. I wouldn’t want that in the majors, forget Double-A. The ERA was fine (1.95), but that was off a .227 BABIP. My guess is you throw that nasty and no one is making solid contact, so the BABIP isn’t entirely lucky. He only allowed two homers in Double-A for a 0.24 HR/9, because no one was squaring him up. He might’ve been working on stuff, or rather “his stuff.” That’s why I wouldn’t put a ton on his numbers.

No one is going to be Skenes, so this is unfair, but he had something like a 15+ K/9 in the minors. If Jobe is 9.9 K/9 in Double-A is he 7.8-8.2 K/9 in the majors? That would be my guess, which is a bit bleh. Since the stuff is impossible to barrel, he should be fine for an Ian Anderson type rookie year, which was great. Ian went 8.7 K/9, 3.58 ERA in 128 1/3 IP. That doesn’t mean puppet shows are in Jobe’s future either. I’m just saying please do not expect Skenes. There is only one Skenes. He is the 2nd best starter in all of baseball after one year. That’s abnormal. No one else is doing that in the immediate future. If Jobe gets hit in Spring Training, he might not even break camp. That is likely only at a 10% possibility, but it’s there. I don’t see Tarik Skubal, part 2, i.e., Tworik Deuxbal. I see Ian Anderson, part 2, call him Iam Jobe. For 2025, I’ll give Jackson Jobe projections of 8-8/3.47/1.29/122 in 134 IP with a chance for more.