As an eighth-round draft pick in 2016, Jacob Robson was not exactly a candidate to race up the Detroit Tigers’ minor-league ladder.
Even by his own admission, the current Toledo Mud Hens center fielder did not expect to reach Triple-A this quickly — but his promotion and subsequent stay here has been one of the many pleasant surprises for the Tigers and the 23-year-old Robson.
Robson began the 2017 season with West Michigan in Low Single-A but jumped three levels to Triple-A in the span of 14 months. He earned a few breaks — his call-up to Toledo in late June was because of current teammate Christin Stewart’s injury — but played well enough to become an everyday player as the Hens chase their first playoff berth in 11 years.
“Some things ended up going my way,” said Robson, who is ranked the Tigers’ No. 16 prospect by MLBPipeline.com. “The fact that the organization is in a rebuilding phase, I think that plays to my advantage and all of our minor-league players’ advantage.
“They’re looking for guys to take jobs, and that’s something I want to do. But at the same time, I didn’t think I’d be here this fast.”
Since his promotion, Robson has been one of Toledo’s more reliable hitters. After an 0 for 3 performance Saturday, the Ontario native has an OPS of .832 and a batting average of .310, often hitting at the top of the batting order.
But the next promotion is the most difficult. Mud Hens manager Doug Mientkiewicz said “there’s not a bigger leap in sports” than Triple-A to the big leagues, adding Robson has a lot to fix even though his initial returns have been encouraging.
Mientkiewicz said the first full year at Triple-A teaches a player a lot about his flaws, and Robson still is in the early stages of adjusting to this level.
“He’s new, and [opposing teams] don’t quite know what to expect from him yet,” Mientkiewicz said. “There’s a lot of things we’ve got to clean up. Being at this level, it’s not just about hits, it’s about how you go about it — baserunning, defense, and all of that stuff. To get where he wants to be, we got a lot of work to do, but he has come up here and had some success.”
Robson said his fast rise largely has been because of self-evaluation. As a 5-foot-10 outfielder, he’s not trying to be a power hitter — but he does have 10 home runs this season between Toledo and Double-A Erie — but rather is turning his focus to improving his all-around game and better using his speed on the basepaths.
“Knowing myself might be my biggest asset, in my opinion,” Robson said. “I’m not trying to do anything out of my skill set and just learning every day. I make sure if a coach or instructor tells me something, they don’t have to tell me twice. I think that’s really important.”
Robson said there is so much in baseball out of a player’s control — such as injuries and roster moves — he devotes most of energy to improving himself and making the most of his chances.
So far that’s led to a promising start to his professional career.
“Those are things that are very important to me, and that’s part of the reason why I’ve had success,” Robson said. “I take pride in the intangibles.”
Contact Nicholas Piotrowicz at: npiotrowicz@theblade.com, 419-724-6110, or on Twitter @NickPiotrowicz.
First Published August 17, 2018, 3:25 p.m.
