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Jared Jones is Having a Special Start to His MLB Career

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What Jared Jones is doing right now is special.

You don’t normally see a rookie arrive in the majors and look like one of the best players in the game. Through six starts, Jones has a 3.18 ERA, led by a 42:5 K/BB ratio. He’s had just one outing with an ERA over 5, which was his most recent start where he allowed three runs in five innings.

The downside for Jones is that his Rookie of the Year case will see him competing against Cubs 30-year-old rookie Shota Imanaga, who led Nippon Professional Baseball in strikeouts last year. Imanaga has an 0.98 ERA in 27.2 innings this season. While Jones will have competition for Rookie of the Year, it’s a testament that his competition is someone with years of professional experience, even in another league.

What stands out the most about Jones is his strikeout rate. He ranks sixth overall in K% at 31.8. His whiff rate of 37.5% ranks first in the majors. What’s impressive about that is he also ranks first in swing percentage. Not only is Jones inducing a lot of swings, but he’s also inducing a lot of misses.

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THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS

This week’s featured column for Patreon subscribers looks at the below-average offense of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the idea of replacing hitting coach Andy Haines as a solution.

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**Jared Jones is Having a Special Start to His MLB Career – READING

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Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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