Tigers top prospect Jackson Jobe to undergo Tommy John surgery, out for season

Detroit Tigers right-hander Jackson Jobe entered 2025 as the top pitching prospect in baseball and will exit the year as a Tommy John surgery patient.

The rookie, already on the 15-day IL due to a flexor strain, will undergo surgery on his right UCL and miss the remainder of the 2025 season, the team announced Wednesday. The timing of the injury makes it likely that Jobe will miss a large chunk of the 2026 season as well.

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The Tigers hold the best record in baseball at 44-24 entering Wednesday, but Jobe’s injury is a significant blow for the team’s present and future. He was a unanimous top-five prospect entering the season and the top pitching prospect if you don’t count Roki Sasaki, who played at the top level in Japan for years before joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.

MLB Pipeline grades Jobe, the third pick of the 2021 MLB Draft, as having four plus pitches, anchored by a fastball that can touch the high 90s. He made the Tigers’ big-league club out of spring training and held a 4.22 ERA in his first 10 starts.

Jobe’s rookie season was put on hiatus at the end of May, after a start in which his fastball velocity was noticeably down. He was shut down and placed on the IL due to what was called a Grade 1 strain of the flexor tendon in his right elbow. Further testing apparently revealed more damage.

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Jobe shares a last name with Dr. Frank Jobe, the inventor of Tommy John surgery, but there’s no relation.

Without Jobe, the Tigers’ rotation has been anchored by Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize, with promising right-hander Reese Olson also on the IL.