Pirates' Jared Jones About to Take Next Step in Recovery
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PITTSBURGH — Jared Jones has been progressing in his rehab and the Pittsburgh Pirates revealed what he'll do going forward.
Pirates senior director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk gave an update on the right-handed starting pitcher and said that Jones is entering the sim-game phase or sim game portion of his rehab, where they'll continue montioring him and see how he progresses.
Jones has already done live bullpens, which he also did when he returned to Pittsburgh this week, throwing a bullpen in front of Pirates pitching coach Bill Murphy at PNC Park on April 14.
Tomczyk anticipate Jones facing live hitters with a different jersey than a Pirates jersey, which he's been doing, which will give him some experience of facing opposing hitting again, at least mentally.
He sees Jones going through around three to six sim-games, which is common for pitchers coming off the elbow surgery that he underwent last May, along with live batting practice, before they decide he's ready to start a rehab assignment.
“It’s not black-and-white with everybody because you really don’t know how they’re going to respond," Tomczyk said. "There is a gradual progression of innings and number of pitches and he is at the early stages of that progression of building up number of pitches and innings.”
A Long Rehab and Return for Jones
Jones hasn't pitched for the Pirates since the end of the 2024 season, his rookie campaign, making it almost a year-and-a-half since he's last pitched at the major league level.
He dealt with elbow pain in 2025 Spring Training and then after trying to get back to full fitness, he continued having elbow pain, which ended up being an ulnar collateral ligament sprain.
Jones then underwent internal brace surgery, with Dr. Keith Meister successfully completing the surgery on May 21, 2025, shutting Jones down for the rest of the season.
The internal brace surgery requires repairing the ligaments back to the bone, allowing it to heal, then augmenting it, making it stronger. It is not as invasive as Tommy John surgery, which would've knocked him out for the 2026 season too, but still requires a 10-12 month return timeline.
Jones is currently on the 60-day injured list, which started officially on Opening Day on March 26, which means he couldn't pitch for the Pirates until May 25 at earliest.
He threw off a flat mound back on Dec. 9, commonly known as a "flat," and then threw his firstbullpen back on Jan. 11, the first steps towards making his comeback.
Jones can't officially start his first rehab assignment until about 30 days before they can activate him off the 60-day injured list, so a late April start date for that would be the earliest for him.
Tomczyk thought that him coming back to Pittsburgh was a big moment for Jones, who has spent most of his time down in Bradenton, Fla., the Pirates Spring Training site, where he has done most of his rehab.
“In my humble opinion, very important. Especially someone that is is an integral part of this team and will be an integral part of this team, now and moving forward. Not to mention, he’s just a really good dude and the guys like to be around him, the coaching staff wants to be around him.
“It’s a very important part of the mental side of the rehab, because you can get lost down there. Not intentionally, in Florida, he’s been down there a long time and he has been grinding through this rehab for a very long time. So just a simple change of scenery helps the athlete just get into a better mindset.
The Pirates have a strong starting rotation, with the likes of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler and Carmen Mlodzinski, and Jones' return could make them even better.
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Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.