LAKELAND, Fla. -- Jackson Jobe faced a fierce indoctrination to the major leagues. His late-September debut was a product of pressurized circumstances.

The Detroit Tigers made an aggressive move when they promoted one of the game's best starting pitching prospects. Then they called upon him to pitch out of the bullpen in a playoff chase.

The night Jobe debuted at Comerica Park, a packed house chanted his name. Seven days later, he was cast into the flames. A playoff game in Houston. His team up 1-0 in the seventh inning. Jobe hit the first batter. Then gave up an infield single. Then watched as a bunt hit loaded the bases. By the time it was all over, Jobe had thrown 15 pitches. He recorded only one out and left the game with his team trailing 2-1. The Tigers rallied to win and advanced to the American League Division Series.

Two days after that, Jobe stood in the corner of the visiting clubhouse in Cleveland. He recounted his playoff experience, one where the opposing fans grew so loud Jobe couldn't hear his PitchCom. The message from manager A.J. Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter was validating: "They said I pitched my tail off and things didn't go my way," Jobe said. "They're gonna get me back out there because they need me in those situations. That's exactly what I needed to hear, especially after all that happened."

The results of Jobe's first taste of the major leagues -- 5 2/3 innings, three earned runs and only two strikeouts in the regular season and postseason combined -- hinted at both his strengths and weaknesses. The stuff is nasty. Elite level. But despite triple-digit velocity and filthy spin, Jobe was not a monster when it came to missing bats. His whiff rate was only 9.5 percent in a minuscule major-league sample.

Even in the minors, Jobe at times struggled to beat hitters inside the strike zone. His 9.43 K/9 in the minors last season was good. But hardly enough to proclaim him a generational prospect.

So Jobe spent his offseason back in Oklahoma. He worked with his personal pitching coach, Alex Marney of PitchingWRX, and began altering his arsenal. Fetter came down in January for a visit.

The sweeping slider that could touch 3,000 rpm was supposed to be Jobe's calling card. But as he advanced to higher levels, he found hitters did not always chase the pitch. When he tried to land it in the zone, it wasn't generating enough whiffs.

"My sweeper looks so good on paper," Jobe said, "but then I went out there and no one was swinging and missing."

The work began. Jobe tweaked his breaking ball and settled on something closer to a traditional curveball. He also added a two-seam to pair with his harder slider. "The idea behind the curveball is just to have more of a north-south approach, work off the four-seam that I'm throwing 40-plus percent of the time," Jobe said.

That is the backdrop of the scene that unfolded Thursday inside Joker Marchant Stadium. Jobe readied for a live throwing session in the bullpen beyond the left-field wall. On his way to the game mound, he discussed the plan with catcher Jake Rogers.

"I'm just gonna throw my s -- middle until two strikes, just see how it plays," Jobe said.

Rogers replied: "Just do it the whole time. There's no reason not to fill it up."

With Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris and owner Chris Ilitch watching from just behind home plate, Jobe's bullpen started slow. A fastball high. A couple of fastballs low. Another one missed up and in. The first four pitches were balls.

Then the show began.

Jobe went on to throw strikes on 80 percent of his remaining pitches. The fastball sizzled. And most notably, the curveball maintained a tight shape and a devastating drop. Infielder Ryan Kreidler left the batter's box shaking his head after his final at-bat.

Afterward, Jobe conferred with pitching coach Robin Lund, who praised the curveball. Rogers told him: That's some of the best stuff I've seen you have.

In the clubhouse after the session, someone asked Rogers about catching Jobe.

"He was electric, man," Rogers said. "He was electric. I don't think I can describe it with anything other than that."

Over at Jobe's locker, the young right-hander stood tall. His shoulders look broader every day. His confidence is growing, too. His fastball averaged 98 mph. Jobe shrugged. "Which I'll take right now," he said.

He admitted he was not sure exactly what to expect from the curveball. This was his first time facing pro hitters, and he wanted to gauge their reactions.

For as much as Jobe is a pitcher of the modern age, he has already learned the perils of chasing metrics more than outs.

"We do all this work to get the stuff on the iPad, make the numbers look sexy," Jobe said, "but if you can't put it in the zone it's useless. So that's what I'm trying to do."

For Jobe, the curveball now appears to be another tool in what was already a robust war chest. Throughout his time in the minors, the changeup emerged as perhaps his best pitch. But the altered curveball can now tunnel with the fastball to give Jobe the swing-and-miss scythe he desires.

"Pretty much a true curveball," Rogers said. "He was landing it, throwing it for strikes and below the zone with two strikes. ... He threw it 0-0. He threw it 0-2, and it's coming out the same as the heater. It's not really popping, and it was fooling hitters."

So far in camp, Jobe has said the right things. He's acknowledged he is competing to make the Opening Day rotation. He speaks with a deep voice but a soft, calm tone.

"It's everything that I've worked for," he said of competing in big-league camp. "Just going to go out there and try to perform and win a job."

Of his impressive bullpen, Jobe said: "It's spring training for the hitters, too, and they're seeing live for the first couple times, so take it with a grain of salt. But it all looked good."

For anyone unsure of Jobe's chances to break camp with the Tigers, Thursday's bullpen served as a potent reminder of just how enticing his talent can be. Tigers officials say there is more Jobe must polish. His execution needs to grow to match his sheer stuff. But they have also done little to tamp down the hype.

"It doesn't matter what my prediction would be or what an expectation would be," manager A.J. Hinch said. "He's gonna get a ton of opportunity to showcase it. I'm a big believer in minimizing that noise in someone's head. He may be able to exceed even (his) own expectations, let alone the expectations a manager puts on you."

The Tigers will surely weigh the pros and cons of external factors. The Tigers could put Jobe in the minors to begin the season in hopes of gaining an extra year of team control. Conversely, they could put him on the Opening Day roster in hopes Jobe wins Rookie of the Year and earns them an extra draft pick.

Jobe's talent could create an all-in or all-out situation. If Jobe were to make his season debut later in the summer but still finish in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, he would be awarded a full year of service. As a caveat of the current CBA, the Tigers would in that case not get the extra pick.

If Jobe's first throwing session was an indication, this might not be a difficult decision.