Pressure builds for 2 top Tigers prospects after The Athletic predicts big seasons

A lot of the top prospects the Tigers called up last season have graduated from prospect status or are on the verge of graduating, but because of Detroit's young players-first mentality, there's pretty much always going to be more in line if all goes to plan. This year, it's guys like Jackson Jobe, Jace Jung, and Trey Sweeney, all of whom made their major league debuts last year but only got a week (Jobe) to a month and a half (Jung and Sweeney) of regular season experience by the time it was over.

We should, in all likelihood, expect to see the three of these players on the Opening Day roster. Sweeney's role as part of a shortstop platoon with Javy Báez is more defined, and Jobe and Jung haven't been promised anything, but it seems like an inevitability.

The Athletic's resident prospect expert Keith Law also seems to think so. He ranked Jobe at No. 4 and Jung at No. 10 on a new list of his top 25 rookies most likely to make an impact this year (subscription required).

The Athletic ranks Tigers prospects Jackson Jobe and Jace Jung No. 4 and No. 10 prospects most likely to have an impact in 2025

Jobe is the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball unless you count Roki Sasaki, who's really only a prospect on a technicality. He hasn't generated as much hype as Sasaki or Paul Skenes, but his track record in the minors makes it easy to bet that he'll be thrilling to watch when he settles in. However, he's still fighting for a spot in the rotation with three other guys, and the Tigers could put him the bullpen for a little while for some long relief outings if they don't trust him enough with a rotation spot yet.

The Tigers seem a little uncertain about Jung, despite the fact that he put up a pretty similar line to Sweeney in his short stint last year. There's a more immediate need for Sweeney with Báez's terrible offense and declining defense, but the Tigers can cover third with a combination of Matt Vierling/Andy Ibáñez/Zach McKinstry that they've already been comfortable using.

Jung's been quick to show out in spring training, though, even if it's a tiny sample size. In four plate appearances, he has two doubles, and hasn't struck out. If he can keep that up through the rest of spring, and if Jobe can outperform Keider Montero, Casey Mize, and Kenta Maeda, both could turn into key pieces of the Tigers' roster this season.