Armed with altered curveball, Jackson Jobe looks more dangerous

A discovery for Jackson Jobe was borne of a two-word decision Monday in the bullpen: "F**k it." While going through his normal routine the day before a start, he decided to adjust the location of his spiked finger on his curveball grip and throw it harder.

"That was just me saying, hey, this might work, because my curveball was so bad last outing. Just trying something different. Figured it couldn’t be as bad as it was last time," Jobe said after the Tigers' 4-1 win over the Rays Tuesday night. "Ended up working out."

Jobe threw 21 curveballs over his first three starts this season, generating zero whiffs and three called strikes. Batters were hitting .500 against the pitch, in a very small sample. He decided to "mess with it a little bit" on Monday. He immediately liked what he saw when he turned around and consulted the metrics.

"That's nasty," he thought.

Jobe took it to the mound Tuesday night. The difference was clear. After averaging 81 mph over his first three starts, the first two curveballs out of his hand were 84 mph. The third, which got a called third strike on Jonathan Aranda, came in at 86 mph. He threw a couple up to 87.

He threw 15 in total and got two whiffs on six swings and five called strikes. He confirmed that the new grip and velo will be permanent changes: "100 percent." Jobe struck out Jonny DeLuca on a curveball in the dirt in the second and struck out Richie Palacios on a curve at the top of the zone to kick off the third.

"I’ve never really gotten swings like that on any breaking ball," he said. "I threw one in the dirt that I got a strikeout off that was pretty far off. I’m not used to hitters reacting that way, so it was definitely cool to do. I’ll continue to get more comfortable with it and it should get better."

A good curve to go with his slider can keep hitters off his fastball. Jobe also threw more sinkers for the second straight start, especially against lefties. The results were mixed, but Jobe felt more equipped to get outs.

"It just keeps them on their toes even more, gives them a different look," he said. "It’s not something I’ve done until pretty much my last start against Pittsburgh and yeah, it worked. Being able to throw my complete arsenal to righties and lefties gives me a better opportunity, and gives them more to deal with, so definitely feel good about that."

Jobe missed most of last season and most of this season after undergoing Tommy John last June. He arrived this season at a time the Tigers were desperate for quality innings in their rotation, having just traded Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize. Jobe was knocked around in his Comerica Park debut against the White Sox, but has bounced back since.

Jobe's raw stuff is elite, a triple-digits fastball to go with high-spin breaking pitches. With each start, he's getting more creative in how he deploys it.

"Just figuring out what works," he said. "Like today, continuing to try sinkers to lefties, trying a new curveball, the changeup’s been God awful, so I’ll figure out something to do for that next outing," Jobe said with a grin. "And just keep learning. I was away from the game for a year, so just trying to get the feel back for some stuff and make some changes when I can. It makes it fun."

There was nothing dominant about Jobe's performance Tuesday night. He labored for much of it, especially in the fourth. He needed 86 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings. But when he was pushed to the edge, Jobe punched back. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and a run already in, Jobe struck out Palacios and then got Taylor Walls to ground out.

If not for a misplay by Max Clark in center field the next inning that should have gone down as an error, Jobe might have escaped any damage at all and completed five innings. As it was, he learned that he's "able to get outs when I don’t have my best stuff and probably didn’t feel very good mechanically." That's a valuable lesson for a young pitcher.

And for Jobe, his new curve could become a valuable pitch.

"The curveball was very big for me," he said. "That’s something I've been struggling with, the feel for it. Seeing what it did today, it turned into a real weapon, in my opinion. And that was really my second day of throwing it, so I definitely feel good about it."

The win for the Tigers snapped a six-game skid, and a larger 1-9 stretch, as they try to claw back into the playoff race. Jobe said it "felt like a momentum-shifter, potentially." He was talking about the team. He could have also been talking about himself.