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  "description": "Brandon Tew takes a deep dive look at Tigers pitching prospect Ben Jacobs",
  "path": "/under-the-hood-ben-jacobs/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-02T16:11:46.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.prospectslive.com",
  "tags": [
    "Matt Seese kick off this Under The Hood series with Braylon Doughty"
  ],
  "textContent": "Ben Jacobs, a 2025 third-round pick out of Arizona State, has quickly climbed prospect rankings, becoming one of the better pitching prospects in the Tigers' system. Thanks to his impressive stuff, he's also entering the conversation for me as a second- or third-tier left-handed pitching prospect in the minors. It was fun to see Matt Seese kick off this Under The Hood series with Braylon Doughty, a prospect I've long been high on.\n\nJacobs has rapidly become one of my favorite pitchers to watch. His lean 6-foot-1 frame generates plenty of energy into the ball release, and the excellent pitcher-camera angles in Lakeland and West Michigan only add to the appeal of watching his pitches move. More importantly, he combines clean mechanics with a fastball that features elite characteristics while sitting in the low-to-mid 90s.\n\n## **MECHANICS**\n\n0:00\n\n/0:20\n\n1×\n\nJacobs' delivery is simple and repeatable. He begins from a side-saddle setup before stepping back toward third base with his right foot. He then creates good tempo, flowing into a chest-high leg lift. As the leg extends and straightens back out, he sinks into his lower half and stays closed while gliding down the mound into a firm front foot-strike as he creates rotation and energy forward.\n\nHis right arm extends in front of him as a balancing bar before coiling into his body. He then quickly works the left arm from flip-up into an almost 90-degree position as the front right foot lands. From there, Jacobs rotates aggressively with his chest over his front knee, driving the ball from a conventional 3/4s arm slot down the mound.\n\nThe delivery becomes even better at release. By getting into his lower half and dropping his center of gravity, Jacobs creates a surprisingly low release height despite his otherwise conventional arm slot. That combination produces excellent approach angles to the plate, helping his fastball play in and at the top of the zone. He finishes by rising out of his release, leaning onto his right heel, and often spinning through the finish. It's a move that almost feels like he's \"pimping\" the finish on his fastball, adding a bit of flair to an already aesthetically pleasing delivery with a twirl when he’s feeling good about a fastball but also bringing his arm back in recoil like cracking a whip. Thus allowing his long, whippy arm action to carry the ball to the catcher’s mitt.\n\n### **ARSENAL**\n\nCredit: PitchProfiler\n\n### **FOUR-SEAM FASTBALL: 92-94 T96**\n\n0:00\n\n/0:36\n\n1×\n\nJacobs' four-seam fastball typically sits 92-94 mph, though he can reach back for more when looking to finish hitters. Early in 2026 in the Florida State League, he averaged 94 mph and generated more than 18 inches of iVB from a 5.4-foot release height. The pitch proved dominant, resulting in a 44% whiff rate despite being thrown more than 60% of the time. Low-A hitters struggled to handle the heater, but his overall pitch mix and feel of multiple pitches make every at-bat uncomfortable. It’s the type of flat VAA fastball that teams are coveting to try and win against more lofted swings and with upper zone locations.\n\nLooking early this season at Public Statcast data, only two LHPs in the minors fit these specs on their fastballs:\n\n  * 94+ mph\n  * 15+ iVB or more on average from a 5.5-foot release height or lower\n\n\n\nGage Jump\n\nBen Jacobs\n\nThat’s the only two left-handers with those specs. It is an FSL baseball Jacobs is using, so it’s important to keep that in mind. Though, even if you nerf the shape of the pitch as he gets to an MLB baseball, that will still be a great fastball if he can maintain or even add some more velocity.\n\nThe Tigers often had the catcher set up at the top of the strike zone once Jacobs got ahead in the count, looking to finish at-bats by effectively throwing the ball through the catcher's mask. His combination of a low release height and elite carry allows the fastball to work above the barrel, especially when elevated. Unless he's simply stealing an early-count strike, there's clear intent to attack the top shelf. The pitch carries through the upper part of the zone with enough life to ride up and away from right-handed hitters. He can also manipulate it to create subtle cut when working inside to those same opposite-handed hitters. Those small shape variations allow the fastball to remain effective against hitters from both sides of the plate.\n\nOne of the more unique traits of the pitch is how well it maintains its plane when located at the knees. Jacobs is comfortable throwing it at the bottom of the zone for called strikes, particularly deeper into outings when hitters are geared for the elevated version. His command allows him to access both the bottom and upper parts of the zone without leaking pitches back over the heart of the plate, giving hitters another thing to respect.\n\nIt's a great fastball that can generate called strikes at the knees, miss bats above the zone, and produce in-zone swing-and-miss when needed. Between its velocity, carry, release characteristics, and shape manipulation, it's an offering that Jacobs can confidently lean on in most counts and situations.\n\n### **SLIDER: 84-87**\n\n0:00\n\n/0:20\n\n1×\n\nJacobs' slider is a mid-80s offering that can take on different shapes depending on whether he gets underneath or on top of the baseball at release. As the PitchProfiler plot above shows, the versions with more lift are tagged as cutters, while the depthy variation is classified as the slider by me. The slider is the better bat-misser of the two, featuring short, late break with just enough sweep to miss barrels down.\n\nWhen Jacobs gets underneath the seams, the pitch gains more vertical movement and takes on a lifted shape. It remains an effective offering, darting away from left-handed hitters while also showing enough command to be back-footed as the depthy version, or run inside on the hands of right-handed hitters as the lifted one. That ability to manipulate the shape gives him another layer of deception, even if the two versions aren't yet fully separated, but there's still some overall command to unlock here.\n\nDetroit may continue refining the pitch into two distinct offerings: a firmer mid-to-upper-80s cutter with more vertical action and a true 82-85 mph slider with greater depth and swing-and-miss qualities. Jacobs still needs to tighten the consistency of both shape and velocity before either becomes a reliable pitch against left-handed hitters, but the foundation is there.\n\nThere's also a case for experimenting with a larger low-80s sweeper to create even more horizontal separation from the cutter. Whether that ultimately happens remains to be seen, but the encouraging takeaway is that Jacobs already demonstrates the ability to manipulate his slider through either intention or inconsistency. The next step is to determine which versions best complement his fastball and allow his arsenal to reach its full potential.\n\n### **CHANGEUP: 80-84**\n\nSplit-Change Grip\n\n0:00\n\n/0:23\n\n1×\n\nJacobs' split-change offers the highest ceiling among his secondary pitches. He throws it in the low-80s while burying the ball deep in his hand, hooking one of his fingers on the inside of the horseshoe. More interestingly, he can vary how the ball comes off his fingers, creating two distinct movement profiles: a cutter-like, diving version (tagged above as the splitter) and a changeup that stays more verty longer before fading arm-side. The pitch generates plenty of swing-and-miss, and it's clear Detroit has encouraged him to throw it more frequently as the season has progressed to develop his feel for it further.\n\nThat ability to manipulate the shape is one of the more intriguing aspects of Jacobs' arsenal. Rather than producing the same movement every time, he can create different looks depending on location and release. If the Tigers continue developing those into two distinct offspeed offerings, it would give Jacobs another avenue to face both platoons.\n\nThere's a legitimate split-change here. The cutty version is especially intriguing, drawing loose stylistic similarities to the split-change mix of Foster Griffin, though with less overall movement. Jacobs kills the spin exceptionally well, dropping the cut one to roughly 1,100 rpm, while the more traditional fading changeup shape generally sits in the 1,200-1,300 rpm range. Those are extremely low spin rates that allow the pitch to tumble late.\n\nThe result is a pitch that consistently arrives with 10 to 15 inches more drop than his fastball despite coming from a barely lower release. Combined with hitters being geared for his riding four-seamer, the late separation and action make the split-change a difficult offering to recognize and an effective bat-misser. If the consistency continues to improve, it has the ingredients to become his best secondary.\n\n### **CURVEBALL: 78-83**\n\n0:00\n\n/0:35\n\n1×\n\nJacobs' curveball is a relatively new addition to his arsenal. I tagged it as a knuckle-curve for my own purposes above, though I don't believe he actually throws it with a spike grip. The pitch features a compact, slurvy shape, coming in around the low-80s with enough depth to finish below the zone. While it's primarily a chase offering, Jacobs showed surprising confidence in landing it for strikes. Of the 19 tracked curveballs he threw in the Florida State League, 58% finished in the strike zone.\n\nThat ability to create both called strikes and chase swings gives the pitch a solid foundation, with room for even more as he gains confidence throwing it. It's another example of the overall feel he has for manipulating his arsenal, even if the consistency from outing to outing is still developing.\n\nJacobs has shown modest improvements in both control and command this season, but there are still stretches where he loses the strike zone and the quality of his stuff becomes less competitive. That inconsistency surfaced in consecutive rough starts, including a June 24 outing at Dayton in which he allowed nine earned runs. Through 32.2 innings in the Midwest League, his ERA climbed to 5.79 while his walk rate rose above 15%, illustrating that the jump to High-A has presented new challenges.\n\nEven so, the feel he has developed for the slurvy curveball is an encouraging sign. If he continues throwing it for both early-count strikes and chase swings while regaining the command he showed earlier in the season, it could become another dependable offering alongside his fastball and split-change, with it being a pitch he can go to if he needs a zoned pitch.\n\n### **OUTLOOK**\n\n### **No. 4 / No 5 starter with real upside**\n\nJacobs has the pitch quality to develop into a Top 100 prospect, but his control and command remain the biggest hurdles. When outings begin to unravel, his catchers will often shift their targets back toward the middle of the plate, simplifying the game plan until he regains his rhythm. Some of his recent struggles could simply be part of adjusting to a hitter-friendly Midwest League while learning how aggressively he can attack more advanced hitters in the strike zone.\n\nThere is still far more to like than dislike. Jacobs has a clean, repeatable delivery, a fastball that can carry an arsenal, and multiple secondaries with legitimate upside if they continue to develop. Betting on improved command is a reasonable one, and if it comes, he projects as a quality No. 4 starter with enough remaining upside to exceed that projection. That combination makes Ben Jacobs one of the more intriguing left-handed pitching prospects in the minor leagues.\n\n###",
  "title": "Under the Hood: Ben Jacobs",
  "updatedAt": "2026-07-02T16:11:46.790Z"
}