It's time to pull out receipts on Tigers drafting Jackson Jobe over Marcelo Mayer

With the third overall pick the 2021 MLB Draft, the Detroit Tigers selected high school pitcher Jackson Jobe, meaning it only took them a few minutes to send their fanbase into a murderous rage. With the next selection, the Red Sox took the guy that Tigers fans wanted to hear called for their team: Marcelo Mayer, the most highly touted shortstop in the draft class.

The Tigers had gone years without a truly great shortstop. Jhonny Peralta did decent work in his three years, and Carlos Guillén was even better a few years before him, but at the time fans had been stuck with Niko Goodrum, who accumulated all of 0.1 fWAR in his two years in Detroit.

But the Tigers passed over Mayer, and they had to deal with the ire of Tigers journalists and fans alike in the aftermath. Scott Pleis, the Tigers' director of amateur scouting at the time, stood by the team's decision, saying, "I think for us it was a pretty easy pick. [...] Jackson is a special talent. Good makeup kid, plus across the board, control, command, life to his fastball, just really the total package, which we rarely ever see in high school baseball."

But that would fall on deaf ears through the first season of Jobe's minor league career. He had a 4.52 ERA in Single-A and was promoted to High-A toward the end of the season. Although his numbers improved there, it was far from enough to placate fans.

Fast forward three years later, and Jobe is finishing up his best season so far, with a 1.95 ERA in Double-A and with fans begging for his acceleration to the majors. Meanwhile, Mayer had a great season at the plate, but his season ended in early August with an injury.

Jackson Jobe is showing that the Tigers' decision to draft him over Marcelo Mayer was the right call

The SeaWolves' season ends on Sept. 20, and Jobe is still a little over 27 innings away from the Tigers' 100-inning goal for him this year. However, during his most recent start on Thursday, he tossed a career-high seven innings and was characteristically brilliant, giving up just one earned run while fanning eight batters. He'll probably be able to get in two or or three more starts and probably won't meet that 100-inning benchmark, but he's done more than enough to prove that he should move up to Triple-A to start the 2025 season.

Jobe didn't escape time on the IL this year, going down for just over two months with a hamstring strain. But he's been brilliant during the time he has spent on the mound, with a 1.96 ERA and 89 strikeouts across High-A and Double-A. The Tigers have been adamant about not rushing him, but with the way he's been pitching, this looks like a guy who could break out of spring training next season if they'd let him.

Tigers fans had no way of knowing what Jobe would turn into, and based on some of the front office's previous terrible first-round pick decisions, it was understandable that fans would be concerned. However, Jobe is doing all he can to prove that they made the right choice, and the chances that he'll debut before Mayer seem very high.