The Pittsburgh Pirates broke a long running tradition this year of holding back their best prospects in favor of years of service time and future dollars saved.
After a lights out Spring Training from Jared Jones, which saw him pitch 16.1 scoreless innings across six appearances, they added the rookie right-hander to the Opening Day roster.
Jones looked great in Spring Training. That’s only from a numbers standpoint, but from a development standpoint. His fastball/slider combo were getting Major League lineups out, and he was not afraid to develop his secondary stuff.
All of that has held up during the regular season.
Jones has a 3.56 ERA in 91 innings, while striking out 98 and walking 27. He’s currently on the injured list, and probably won’t return until sometime in August at the earliest. When he does return, the Pirates will know their rotation is going to get a boost.
Calling Jones up on Opening Day, rather than waiting until mid-April, got the Pirates a handful of starts. They saw him put up a 3.13 ERA in 23 innings across his first four outings. That isn’t significant enough to lose a year of service time, but I think there’s an intangible positive at play here.
If Jones was sent down to start the season, and called up in late April, he might not have had the same validation for his Spring Training results. He then might not have had the same confidence entering the Majors.
The Pirates validated that his Spring Training success at the Major League level was worth making him part of their best Opening Day roster. They also showed that their priority was on Jones in 2024, and not Jones in 2030.
The 2030 team takes a hit, but the 2024 team and beyond received a message: The Pirates might be doing business different with their prospects.
Paul Skenes might be the best example of this.
