Pirates' Jared Jones Undergoing Season-Ending Surgery

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed starting pitcher Jared Jones has made a medical decision, impacting his season with the team.

Pirates' senior director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk announced that Jones will undergo surgery on May 21, addressing his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) sprain in his right elbow, according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com.

Tomczyk reported that Jones will miss the rest of the 2025 season, but that there is no time estimate afterwards for how long he'll be out for.

Jones pitched for the Pirates during Spring Training, 12 innings over four starts, but experienced elbow discomfort during a bullpen session in late March, which forced him to miss his final Spring Training start.

The Pirates found out the UCL sprain and didn't have Jones throw for up to six weeks. Jones would eventually start throwing back on April 30, but recently dealt with a setback, according to John Perrotto of Pittsburgh Baseball Now, which led to him having surgery.

Jones finished his first full season at the MLB level in 2024 with a 6-8 record, 22 starts, 4.14 ERA in 121.2 innings pitched, 39 walks to 132 strikeouts and a 1.19 WHIP.

Jones dealt with a right lat strain, that kept him out from early July to late August from pitching for the Pirates.

He had high expectations on what he could achieve in 2025, even receiving consideration as a dark horse for the National League Cy Young Award.

This surgery, if it is Tommy John, would keep him out not only for the rest of this season, but for most of 2026 as well, potentially pushing him back until 2027.

The Pirates will keep a rotation of right-handed pitchers Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller in first and second, respectively, then left-handed pitchers Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney, at third and fourth, respectively. They also just brought up right-handed pitcher Mike Burrows as the fifth starter in place of Carmen Mlodzinski.

Pittsburgh fans will also hope that No. 2 prospect in baseball, right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler, makes his way up from Triple-A Indianapolis in the near future, giving the team a strong starting rotation in Jones' absence.