As nerve-wracking as a first MLB start can be for any young pitcher, Jared Jones’ second career appearance was accompanied by plenty of obstacles in its own right.
Getting the ball for the Pirates’ home opener Friday evening at PNC Park, Jones would also have to face a Baltimore Orioles lineup littered with former top prospects that finished seventh in runs scored last year. The 22-year-old pitched through a mix of hail and snow at times, too, a first for the Whittier, Calif., native.
While Jones gave up a pair of solo shots in the Pirates’ 5-2 loss, he also worked six strong innings and struck out seven. And against a more potent lineup, the Orioles’ average exit velocity against all four of his pitches was lower than what a mostly hapless Marlins squad produced.
"That lineup's really good,” Jones said. “I'm sure they're gonna be in the playoffs this year, and pitching the way I did and only having two pitches as mistakes, it's good signs."
It would be unfair to call both of Jones’ offerings that the Orioles cranked out of the park true mistakes. Ryan O’Hearn was not fooled by an elevated fastball that was in line for catcher Henry Davis’ target, and Gunnar Henderson went below the strike zone to smash a changeup.
Jones yielded four other hits, two of them for extra bases, but pitched out of each jam. In the fourth, Michael A. Taylor and Bryan Reynolds let an O’Hearn fly ball fall between them, turning into a leadoff triple. It was one of a few “sticky situations” Jones would need to pitch around.
With the infield in, Jones induced a groundout with his slider, a pop-up with his four-seam and then reared back to 98 mph to strike out Colton Cowser swinging before pumping his right fist and letting out an emphatic yell. It was one of 17 strikeouts Jones has recorded in only 11 ⅔ career MLB innings.
“He continues to show us things that make us continue to realize why he’s going to be a good major league pitcher,” manager Derek Shelton said.
Jones made it three times through the Orioles’ order, but Shelton didn’t bring him out a fourth time because the young hurler’s velocity had started to trickle down. Once Jones departed, though, the Orioles tagged Ryan Borucki for two runs and Hunter Stratton for another, putting to bed any thought of a Pirates comeback bid.
Shelton also mentioned Jones running away from his slider, which he threw 12 fewer times than against Miami and logged eight fewer whiffs, per Baseball Savant. Yet Jones mixed in more curveballs than last game, one of which generated a swinging strikeout.
He remains quite reliant on an upper-90s four-seam and wipeout slider but is currently confident in every pitch in his arsenal.
"I think all four of them have been really good for me so far this year,” Jones said. “All my stuff has just been working so far this year, and it's been awesome."
In not issuing a free pass on Friday, Jones also learned from his first start. He was unhappy that the two walks he allowed last Saturday came around to score, so Jones responded by pumping the zone.
Sixty-three of his 80 pitches were strikes, and only thrice did Orioles hitters take two balls against Jones.
"Making them earn what they score is obviously what you want to do,” Jones said.
It’s all well and good to load the zone or blow through the bottom of the order with a furious fastball. But Jones further reinforced in his stiffest challenge to date that the stellar spring he turned in does not appear to be an aberration.
Shelton was particularly pleased by Jones’ perseverance, stranding leadoff runners in scoring position in both the fourth and sixth innings. Same goes for a four-seam that’s left opposing batters flailing at air over 42% of the time so far.
What’s left for Jones to prove early in his rookie campaign is that he can replicate these results over a larger sample size, which naturally will only come with more starts. At the very least, Jones has demonstrated to be deserving of more, and he is compiling self-confidence along the way.
"My stuff plays,” Jones said. “That's first and foremost, and that's what's most encouraging about getting up here and pitching the way I'm pitching so far."
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and @AndrewDestin1 on X
First Published: April 6, 2024, 12:34 a.m.
Updated: April 6, 2024, 2:02 a.m.
