Mandatory Courtesy: Junfu Han/Kim Klement/Kirthmon F. Dozier-USA Today
TAMPA–AJ Hinch is rather familiar with Yankees ace Gerrit Cole when both were part of the Houston Astros organization.
He also knows his top pitching prospect has great admiration for the 2023 Cy Young winner.
Jackson Jobe is the 25th-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and the third-best prospect in Detroit’s farm system, was given a non-roster invite to Tigers spring training in 2024. Though he is yet to see any action, Hinch let him travel with the team to George M. Steinbrenner Field for Detroit’s spring tilt with New York.
Hinch took the initiative to set up a meeting between his star prospect and his former player–the objective being to let Jobe pick the brain of Cole.
“That’s a guy I’ve looked up to for a very long time,” said Jobe. “So I was a little nervous going into it for sure. But when we started going, we talked about pitching for like 15-20 minutes nonstop.”
Jobe is still making his way through the farm system, getting as high as AA Erie in 2023–Jobe is keen on absorbing information at the age of 21. He’s called Cole “probably the best pitcher of this generation”, a lofty reason why Jobe wants to emulate Cole’s habits.
“You want to pick his brain along with all the guys we have here,” said Jobe. “It feels like three months that I’ve been here, but it’s been three weeks. I’ll remember that one [conversation with Cole] for a while and, hopefully, we’ll be squaring off against each other sometime soon.”
