The Pirates provided an ominous update on one of their most promising young players Wednesday, when manager Derek Shelton announced that righty Jared Jones would have his next start skipped due to elbow discomfort (link via Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Jones first experienced discomfort during his most recent bullpen session earlier this week. The team has already had imaging performed and is seeking a second opinion before proceeding with a firm diagnosis and recovery timetable, per director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk.
The obvious hope will be for a minor issue that sees the talented 23-year-old return to the mound in short order. Any talk of a pitcher skipping a start due to elbow trouble without a firm diagnosis will naturally create concern, however, especially for someone whose future is as bright as that of Jones.
The 44th overall pick back in 2020, Jones pitched his way into top prospect status as he climbed the minor league ladder and broke camp in the Pirates’ rotation last year. He came roaring out of the gates, too, pitching to a 2.63 ERA with elite strikeout and walk rates through his first seven starts. He hit a rough patch beginning at the end of May and by early July was on the injured list due to a lat strain that would sideline him for about six weeks.
At the time of the injury, Jones had pitched 91 innings of 3.66 ERA ball with a strong 26.4% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. He was averaging 97.3 mph on his heater, inducing swinging strikes at a huge 15.4% clip, and generally looked the part of a mid-rotation starter at the very least — with the stuff and bat-missing ability to produce like a front-of-the-rotation arm. His velocity held when he returned from that lat injury, but his location wasn’t as sharp; Jones walked 9% of his hitters, induced far fewer swings off the plate and gave up far more contact within the strike zone. He finished out the season with a 4.14 ERA in 121 1/3 innings — a solid showing with plenty of hint for further upside.
Jones has looked sharp this spring. He’s pitched 12 innings and held opponents to three runs on eight hits and six walks with 17 punchouts. Again, that command isn’t as sharp as it was pre-injury in 2024, but he’s missing bats and hasn’t experienced any drop-off in the quality and power of his arsenal.
If Jones is shelved to begin the season, the Pirates would run with a rotation including Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Andrew Heaney and Bailey Falter. Options for the final spot in the rotation would include prospects Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, Braxton Ashcraft and Mike Burrows. The former two are still in camp but not yet on the 40-man roster. The latter pair is on the 40-man roster, but both have already been optioned. Of course, with Jones ailing, either could be summoned to the majors to replace him.
Jones accrued a full year of big league service time in 2024. He’s still controllable through the 2029 season and isn’t slated to reach arbitration until the 2026-27 offseason.
Pitchers need to change their throwing motion and stop thos spin rate. Its killing them.
So would throwing balls straight
I believe it’s also the max effort mentality. Back in the day before TJ started becoming almost routine, it was common for starters to “reach back for something extra” during high stress times. But now they don’t have anything to reach for, as they are already expending all they have on every pitch. Meanwhile, pitch counts and innings limits are obviously not the answer. Since that started, pitcher injuries have only gone up! Something has to change, and it has to start at the youth levels. Whatever happened to youngsters not throwing breaking pitches until they were 16? Or hell, 14. Now they do so at 12 and even younger.
I’m sure that not everyone is expending all they have on every pitch. How would we even know this? They’re throwing harder than ever but that’s to be expected as people get bigger and stronger through the years.
Fact: Throwing a baseball 95 plus MPH for 100 pitches every 5 days is BAD for the ligaments in your elbow. Fact: Doesn’t really matter how you do it, Eventually it will tear. Fact: It’s gonna hurt and have to be repaired surgically. . Fact: It stinks.
As coaches, what we saw in the later 80’s to mid 90’s was this paradigm shift that balanced control and speed in unison to just heat
Training sessions became more about generating more speed than focusing on solid pitcher mechanics. Many saw this as a worthwhile trade-off, especially in an era of shorter starts and more specialized types of pitching. The idea became that control will come via simple repetition. Like magic.
You’re right. The human physique can only take so much stress before there’s a breakdown. And even as TJ surgeries became more commonplace, instructors, coaches and players themselves continue to see it as a worthwhile risk
No surprise, of course. Times change. Approaches change. Priorities change
Changes like this are happening in other sports, too
exactly,totally agree with you, coaches and analytics don’t care about your mechanics if you throw over 97 mph
spin rate are killing young pitchers ,those analytics care more spin rate than command pitchers
Rut roh.
Hopefully not the worse case.
don’t say a word. reds…..karma. reds rotation already best in division
Oh boy
Seeking second opinion never sounds good.
My thought exactly. It’s never like ‘oh first doc says he is fine but let’s get second opinion anyway.’
Better looking dude than skenes, at least he has that.
You prefer his complexion and nice hair?
Mostly his non-acned face. But props on skenes landing a 10 even though he has the personality of a rice cake and his looks aren’t model level to say the least.
Yeah so that’s what complexion means but yo esperanza tu son guapo porque tú personalidad está mierda
Espanol oprima ocho
Pendejos siempre hablar mierda
Yo quiero Taco Bell
I bet the mirror breaks when you look into it
Got players ranked by look, eh?
Poor guy. Poor Pirates. They just can’t have nice things…
or anything at all
Ohhhh fuuudddgfgggeee……. in my best Ralphie Parker voice…..
That’s not good………..
Hate to here! One of young guys step up or sign Lance Lynn.
It’s because I drafted him in fantasy.
get a delorean please
Good thing that they signed Heaney.
After watching him this spring, that’s a bit humorous
But nice that they gave away Ortiz for a broken down 1st baseman who can’t hit lefties.
Ben Cherington will never be named GM of the Year
I’m curious if Jared played around with Paul’s new cutter? Skenes didn’t throw it his last 2 games which shows he is a smart person.
It’s ok for a pitcher to try different things and learn from mistakes but not the case with the cutter.
You and the cutter. Have any relation to the the football slider obsessed guy?
@ybc. You say it three times, and he will show up. Please don’t. Where’s the pete rose, ohtani is a degenerate gambler, and the trade trout guy.
You guys act like this never happened in the ” Old” Days. Fact is it’s been happening since baseball was invented. Except in the old days the cure was popping pain pills and learning to throw junk pitches or knuckle balls to survive. Now the cure is TJ surgery and a 1 and a half year recovery. If the recovery was 3 months nobody would complain. Maybe someday…….?
Cue the “Trevor Bauer is available” guy.
Haven’t heard from him yet. Maybe he’s paralyzed and can’t type anymore. Fingers crossed. Bauer committed baseball suicide and Lamar Hunt and Jerry Jones don’t own baseball teams. LOL
@unclemike. Mr Tommy john says hold my beer. Ok fine he was the first pitcher that had a ucl surgery, and came back it was a career ending injury before. It happened but the numbers were under 10. They hit that now in the first week of spring training. It’s common to be having your second under the age of thirty. Fine I’m sure can dig up some anomalies but also I bet you will be surprised that ones you thought didn’t. Indeed had it in high-school.
Pretty hard for Lamar Hunt to own anything these days.
@jubilation. Be careful he might call you the dumbest poster ever. He also says hoyer sucks at drafting, and thinks of the prospects as the next Bobby witt Jr. Until they bust and goes back to hoyer needs to get fired.
At Rexy- Fact: Never said Hoyer is bad at drafting. Fact: Hoyer doesn’t draft. Fact: The people who do draft are very good at their jobs. Fact: Hoyer makes stupid trades with those picks for 1 year rentals. Fact: You are the dumbest poster on this site. Fact: You never heard about it in the ” Old ” days because it went undiagnosed because they didn’t know what it was. It happened all the time in baseball history.
@unclemike so who was the last prospect in system that turned out to be great. I know your worm grows thinking of pca. It’s definitely been awhile maybe I can dust off my mervis jersey. They make trades because they know where it’s heading.
you’re wrong, Skenes was interviewed yesterday and he said he had used the cutter in every game he’s pitched in this spring
Hopefully this isn’t a case of “Mr. Jones, meet Dr. ElAttrache.”
If they’re looking for second opinions, that’s a likely diagnosis
Ya, the “second opinion” almost seals the deal on TJ. They wouldn’t be seeking a second opinion if it was a minor issue. 🙁
Its an epidemic
Tms dont care, mlb doesnt care, coaches dont care, the only ones who lose are the fans & players. Change must happen ASAP
Not just at major lg level, but hi school college minors
It really starts at the little league level. There’s not much MLB pitchers can do now, with even the youngest early-20s pitchers being conditioned for the last decade-plus that spin and velocity are king. Guess we’ll see if anything at that level ever happens.
@mlb1225: Was going to be charitable by saying starts in HS. You get what you incentivize with velo/spin whether it is trying to land a D1 scholarship, get drafted, escape poverty for those with a talented arm. Someone “pitching” with good movement and command at 92/93 tops doesn’t get as much attention as “throwing” 98 and looking the part with less skill/pitching IQ.
Jared Jones knows exactly what he did to get hurt. If MLB truly cared they would ask him what he did differently. If Jared says he was playing with the cutter that would be very helpful information.
My arm hurt but I kept going or the cutter was definitely tough on my arm.
Overthrowing, especially hard sliders, has been a fairly common denominator in a lot of elbow injuries. Ive always been of the impression that thrown correctly, cutters could help preserve arms that would otherwise be at greater risk… but it was different in the past, when people weren’t throwing 97 mph cutters. I agree, it would be interesting to know specifically what he was tinkering with.
And the curse of Horowitz strikes again
Should have traded him when they had the chance
RIP
Remember when pitchers could throw 15 complete games and go 7 innings like it was nothing? Miss the 80s/90s.
That was happening in the 60’s and 70’s too
As you know, we had few guys hitting the 90’s on the gun back in the day. Gibson. Koufax. Ryan. Veale and then guys like Clemens came along
The goal became more heat.
Now everyone and their grandmothers are hitting the gun in the mid 90’s
Between training techniques that entail maxing the arm out, distance drills and the like that go along with actual pitching, it’s no surprise that the injuries have become more commonplace. The human physique can only take so much wear and tear
You have to love being a Pirates fan. The hits just keep coming. In the form of torpedoes
Hopefully it’s not as bad as it appears.
He’s always seemed like a max-effort guy, and he’s not big. He’s always had what the cool kids call “bullpen risk”, and I suspect he’s going to have to go there eventually.
They shouldn’t be called pitchers anymore. Those days are gone. They just throw. Hard. All the time until the machine breaks. If I were a GM I’d be looking for the next Maddox or Glavine because all these batters are amped up to hit the 100+mph fastball. Not to mention they didn’t have the surgery in their career and some of these guys have already had it twice, like Ragans for example – and he’s only 27.
Yeah guys that had Maddux and Glavine are out there just laying on the ground and GMs are passing them over.
Hopefully it’s nothing too bad. So much strain on elbows with the heat that everyone has. They say your throwing power comes from your lower body and core. Maybe people are getting stronger there than their arms can handle.
And happened from 1846 creation of baseball through the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s.