Jared Jones has been a revelation for the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff early on in the 2024 season. His latest start set records and showed the Pirates once again that Jones is here to stay.
Taking on the New York Mets, Jones pitched five innings of scoreless baseball, allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out seven. The right-hander joined Masahiro Tanaka, Stephen Strasburg and Jose DeLeon as the only pitchers since 1983 to have seven or more strikeouts through their first four MLB starts, via Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
Jones' fiery start to the campaign has led to a 3.13 ERA and a sparkling 32/2 K/BB ratio. He leads the Pirates in strikeouts and ranks third in ERA amongst pitchers with 10+ innings thrown. Jones also has the fewest amount of walks on the team under the same parameters.
Pittsburgh has been holding their weight to begin the year, sharing the NL Central lead with an 11-7 record. They'll continue to need their young stars to shine bright if they hope to have continual success throughout the season. Jared Jones has shown no signs of slowing down and will look to continue his strong rookie season.
The only difference between him, Tanaka, Strasburg and DeLeon is that the latter three did it in their first five MLB starts. Jones will be attempting to match them next time he takes to the mound.
Jared Jones' navigates high seas to join Pirates
Pittsburgh selected Jones in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft. His minor league debut wasn't the cleanest, as despite a strong 103/34 K/BB ratio, Jones held a 4.64 ERA. Year two brought the same strengths and weaknesses with a 142/51 K/BB ratio and a 4.62 ERA.
But once Jones hit Double-A, he began to find his stride. Over 10 starts he held a 2.23 ERA and a 47/16 K/BB ratio. Whether he shined or struggled, Jones' potential always reigned supreme. He went from being the team's No. 17 prospect in 2021, to No. 12 in 2022, No. 11 in 2023 and eventually No. 4 entering the 2024 season, via MLB Pipeline.
The Pirates knew they had a desperate need for starting pitchers after the 2023 campaign. While Mitch Keller broke out, Pittsburgh still finished the year ranked 22nd in the league with a 4.60 ERA. They didn't have much of a strikeout punch, ranking 21st with 1,363.
While it's still early, Pittsburgh ranks ninth in ERA (3.64) and 15th in strikeouts (153). Jones has played a large role in the Pirates' pitching resurgence.
But four starts, no matter how good they are, don't make up a strong campaign. Jones will need to continue performing to claim his spot in the rotation long-term. Still, the early results have been impressive and point to a bright present and future for Jones.
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