The Fantasy Impact of Jackson Jobe Needing Tommy John Surgery

Breaking down the fantasy upside of the Tigers internal replacement options, plus a look at five intriguing waiver wire options with impact upside to replace Jobe on your fantasy roster.

Today: a look at how the Detroit Tigers rookie needing Tommy John surgery will impact the fantasy landscape for the rest of the season. Including a deep dive into who might replace him in the Tigers rotation and their respective fantasy ceilings.

Plus, a look at a few potential starters who fantasy managers should consider to replace Jobe for the rest of the season – starters who could very well be available via waivers in your league at the moment.

Jackson Jobe’s rookie season will come to an end after just 10 starts. The rookie right-hander has landed on the injured list and will need Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the rest of the season.

The 22-year-old flashed plenty of upside at times. In 49 innings, he logged a 4.22 ERA and a 5.12 FIP while posting a 17.9% strikeout rate and a 12.4% walk rate. Jobe also surrendred 1.29 home runs per nine frames.

However, most importantly, he logged a 109 Stuff+ number.

Among full-time starters with at least 40 innings this season, just 10 pitchers had a higher Stuff+ number. Those 10?

Hunter Greene, Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Cristopher Sanchez, Drew Rasmussen, Hunter Brown, Spencer Schwellenbach, Jack Leiter and Zack Wheeler.

For reference, Paul Skenes had a 109 Stuff+ number as of the start of play on Thursday, while Cole Ragans, Dylan Cease and Tylor Megill were all at 108. Max Fried’s Stuff+ metric sat at 107.

Of course, Stuff+ isn’t everything in being an effective starter, but the fact that Jobe’s stuff was so promising right out of the gate points to an extremely promising future and only confirms the immense upside he showed in the minors as an elite prospect.

He’s still well inside the top 100 for me overall in dynasty. As of Tuesday’s update I had him at #41 overall. That may change slightly with Jobe moving down a spot or two (or three) with news that he’ll need Tommy John surgery, but he’s still decidedly a top-50 overall fantasy option long-term and a potential fantasy ace down the line.

Switching back to 2025, the question becomes, how is he replaced? How do the Tigers replace him and will any of the internal options in Detroit be worth a look in redraft formats? (Spoilers, some of them definitely will.)

And perhaps more pressingly, how do fantasy managers go about replacing the 22-year-old on their rosters? Are there avenues left to acquire potential frontline fantasy starters via waivers?

All that and more in today’s column:

How This Impacts the Tigers’ Rotation Fantasy-Wise (And Who Might See More Starts as a Result)