The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed 37th round pick Rodarrick Jones, Pirates Prospects has learned. Jones was drafted as a left fielder out of Southern University. Baseball America chose him as the #3 prospect in the New York Collegiate League in the summer of 2009, following his strong season at the University of New Orleans. He’s also a football standout and is athletic with good speed. His hitting fell off in 2010, though, and he transferred to Southern University. He was on the team’s roster but didn’t play, possibly due to ineligibility.
Jones is very athletic with some raw tools, but has some holes in his swing, as seen by his 26% strikeout rate in college, and his .262 average in his final year in New Orleans. He’s more of a project than you would find coming out of college. Jones is expected to start his career off with the GCL Pirates.
The draft pick signing tracker has been updated with the move.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
I think Jones might become a legit prospect in time.
BTW Mel Rojas Jr. was the #5 prospect in the New York Collegiate League in the summer of ’09. Also, Rojas and Jones had similar numbers that summer.