The Tigers are reshuffling Jackson Jobe’s rehab plan, and weather is the reason the next step got bumped back down the ladder.
Jobe was originally lined up to make his first Triple-A rehab start in Columbus, Ohio, this week, but that outing is off for now. Instead, the right-hander is expected to make his fifth overall rehab start Sunday, Aug. 2, with High-A West Michigan.
The move keeps his recovery moving, even if it’s not the exact stop the Tigers had hoped for. Jobe, who had season-ending Tommy John surgery in June 2025, opened his rehab work with two starts for the Whitecaps in mid-July before moving on to Double-A Erie for two more outings. His most recent start came July 25, when he threw 54 pitches over four innings and gave up one run on two hits.
Detroit had been aiming to get him to Triple-A for another tune-up before he returns to the majors, though that plan could still shift depending on how the trade deadline unfolds Monday evening.
“We’re working through some weather issues,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Saturday from the team’s clubhouse at Sutter Health Park. “You never want to waste a day."
While Jobe’s rehab path is being adjusted, Javier Báez is giving the Tigers a steady presence back in the middle of the field.
Báez returned Tuesday after missing three months with a high ankle sprain, and the bat has come back fast. He’s 8-for-14 in three games since rejoining the lineup, with a double and five RBIs. With Max Clark now in center field, Báez is expected to spend most of his time back in the infield, where he’s still making impact plays.
That showed up Friday night in the series opener against the Athletics. In the second inning, with one out, Henry Bolte tried to swipe second and nearly got there.
He didn’t, because Dillon Dingler and Báez turned in the defensive play of the night. Dingler came up after the pitch and fired a sinking, trailing throw that bent toward Báez’s glove side, and Báez, kneeling before the bag, made the quick tag before Bolte could beat it.
Báez has a reputation for handling that kind of play better than just about anyone in the majors, and the Tigers are seeing it again now that he’s healthy. If Clark settles in at the center-field spot, Detroit could have a strong defensive spine up the middle.
And Dingler added to the night in a bigger way too, launching a grand slam.
The Tigers also finished another piece of business on Saturday, acquiring minor league left-hander Jojo Ingrassia as the player to be named later in the July 14 Jahmai Jones deal with the Boston Red Sox. Ingrassia, who turned 24 late last month, was assigned to High-A West Michigan.
Boston took Ingrassia in the 14th round of the 2023 MLB Draft with the No. 418 overall pick out of Cal State Fullerton. Over parts of three minor league seasons, he has put up a 2.94 ERA with 173 strikeouts and 46 walks in 119⅓ innings.
His work this season includes a 3.27 ERA, 59 strikeouts and 22 walks in 44 innings across 13 appearances, 11 of them starts, with the Red Sox’s High-A team in Greenville, South Carolina. He has also dealt with six wild pitches and two hit batters this year.
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Astros Suddenly Have One Deadline Need They Can't Ignore
Casey Mizes name is back in the rumor mill at the exact moment the Tigers are trying to keep their division lead steady, and now his next start has been scratched as a precaution. The timing only adds to the sense that Detroit could be weighing a bigger-picture decision with a pitcher who is nearing free agency, even if the Tigers would prefer the focus stay on the pennant race rather than the deadline.
Houston has emerged as one of the clubs watching closely because of its rotation injuries, and that need is hard to miss with the deadline approaching. For the Tigers, the question is whether holding onto Mize for a run at October is worth more than the kind of prospect package a contending club might be willing to put on the table, which is exactly the sort of call front offices hate making when the standings say one thing and the long view says another. [Read more 🡒]