Pittsburgh Pirates rookie starting pitching Jared Jones has taken the MLB by storm. He has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball out of the gate, mowing down opponents with regularity.
On Tuesday night, he made his fourth start of the season against the New York Mets and had his best performance to date. Jones pitched five innings, striking out seven and allowing only one hit.
The Pirates’ bullpen blew the 1-0 lead he left the game with, resulting in Pittsburgh’s third loss when Jones was on the mound. He certainly deserves better when it comes to his record, as he has pitched well enough to win every game he has started.
It was surprising to see Jones come out of the game after only five innings because of how efficient he was. He threw only 59 pitches, 50 of which were for strikes, as he pounds the zone with regularity.
That efficiency by Jones led to a historic performance. According to OptaSTATS, the 84.7 percent of pitches for strikes that he had is the highest percentage by a rookie in any game since 1988, when pitches were first tracked.
The Mets had no answers for Jones despite him being in the strike zone all night. They could barely make contact, as he continued his impressive stretch of causing swings and misses. During his career in the minors and some of spring training, Jones struggled with walks but that issue has dissipated in the majors as he has only two in 23 innings.
His 0.8 BB/9 leads the MLB, as does his 16.00 SO/BB ratio. Jones has joined an exclusive group with his work punching out opponents as well. He has now recorded at least seven strikeouts in all four of his starts. That makes him only the fourth Major League pitcher since 1893 to accomplish that feat, joining Masahiro Tanaka, Stephen Strasburg and Jose DeLeon.
What Jones has accomplished early in his career is quite impressive. The Pirates have to be thrilled about his progression, as he looks the part of a legitimate ace. Starting pitching was a concern coming into the season for Pittsburgh, but Jones has quelled some of those worries.
Even more exciting is that Jones is going to be joined sooner rather than later by Paul Skenes, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Amateur Draft. A trio of Jones, Skenes and Mitch Keller could be the backbone of this pitching staff for years to come.
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