Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jared Jones will not make his final scheduled start of spring training on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Jones experienced elbow discomfort after his last bullpen, as revealed by Pirates manager Derek Shelton. The Pittsburgh-Post Gazzette’s Noah Hiles reported that “conversations will be had” about how to move forward, though things were left pretty ambiguous as of Wednesday.
Jones, 23, has impressed throughout his first year-plus with the big league club, shouldering some fairly high expectations entering his sophomore season. The Pirates allowed him to break camp as a member of their starting rotation in 2024 when he finished the season with a 4.14 ERA across 22 starts and 121 2/3 innings pitched. Jones impressively had 132 strikeouts to just 39 walks.
How will Pittsburgh move forward?
The Pirates could turn to one of their prospects — Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, Mike Burrows, etc. — to backfill the final rotation spot, though the hope is that he’ll be ready to go by Opening Day (or the day after) in Miami.
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