Pirates Reveal Next Steps for Jared Jones Potential Return
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PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jared Jones is nearing his full return to the major leagues and once again serving as an important part of the team.
Jones is currently on the 60-day injured list, but the Pirates can activate him off it at any time now and bring him back to the team, which will require them to option someone to the minor leagues to make space on the 26-man roster and designate a player for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said on The Pirates Insider Show on 93.7 The Fan that they will have Jones throw a scheduled bullpen on May 26 and that they'll decide on his eventual return.
Cherington also said that Jones is recovering well after each outing and that he's doing well after five days of rest, his most recent rehab assignment start, and four days of rest, his previous rehab assignment start.
"...I think we’d just like to get with him in person and see that and kind of cross that last thing on the list and then we’ll make a determination," Cherington said. "I think he’s put himself in the position to be in consideration for activation at this point, but we’ll get back to Pittsburgh and put all those details together and have a call sometime early this week I suspect."
How the Pirates See Jones' Role When He Returns
Jones just completed his fifth start on his rehab assignment and his second with Triple-A Indianapolis, as he threw 4.1 innings vs. Toledo on the road on May 23, giving up three earned runs, a solo home run, two hits and three walks, while striking out six batters over 76 pitches.
He began his rehab assignment back on April 29, pitching for Single-A Bradenton, while making his first start for Indianapolis on May 6 and his two other starts with Double-A Altoona on May 12 and May 17.
Jones has a 2.89 ERA over 18.2 innings, with 24 strikeouts to six walks, a .197 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 1.02 WHIP. with five of his six earned runs coming in his last two starts.
It's likely that if Jones has a good bullpen session and feels good afterwards that the Pirates will likely bring him back this homestand, which is seven games over seven days, four vs. the Chicago Cubs, May 25-28, and a weekend series against the Minnesota Twins, May 29-31.
Cherington and the Pirates see Jones as a starting pitcher, but still aren't committing to naming him as a starter when he comes back, as they want to evaluate their entire pitching staff and see what works best.
“Jared is a starting pitcher in the long run, that’s how we see him and it certainly could make sense for him to start the games, but we have 13 pitchers to think about and we want to keep thinking about it as, what’s the best group of 13 pitchers on the team at one time and how do we deploy them in a way that gives us the best chance to win games," Cherington said.
“Jared’s just going to make that group of 13 stronger, that’s the bottom line, but we’ll get into all those conversations
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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.