Pirates Deciding Initial Role for Jared Jones; Still Viewed as Starter Long-Term
PITTSBURGH — Jared Jones is three starts into his rehab assignment and is getting closer to returning to the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Jones, who missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing right elbow surgery, threw three-perfect innings for Low-A Bradenton in his first rehab outing on April 29. He followed it up by allowing one run in three innings with Triple-A Indianapolis on May 6 and threw four-scoreless frames in his most recent start with Double-A Altoona on Monday.
The right-hander will throw a side session and PNC Park in the coming days and will make his fourth rehab start with Altoona on Sunday vs. Harrisburg, according to Pirates general manager Ben Cherington. Beyond that, things are still up in the air, though Jones is progressing as expected.
“He’s come along really well,” said Cherington. “We’re going to continue to take it an outing at a time with him.”
As it stands, Jones is still on track to return at the end of this month or in early June, which was the original timeline given. The Pirates have yet to say what his role will be once he’s reinstated from the injured list, but they’re confident he will make the pitching staff better.
“When he’s back, we believe he’s just going to make our group of 13 [pitchers] stronger,” Cherington said. “Exactly what that means in terms of roles, we’re not there yet. We’re going to keep taking it a day at a time.”
Jones last pitched for the Pirates as a rookie in 2024 and ended the year 6-8 with a 4.14 ERA. In 121.2 innings, he allowed 106 hits, walked 39 and struck out 132. He ranked sixth among major leagues rookies in strikeouts and WHIP (1.19).
Jones’ immediate role is still to be determined, and it remains a possibility he could pitch out of the bullpen at times given that he will assuredly be on an innings limit after missing last season.
A recent clip of Jones following his latest rehab start circulated across social media. A question was asked about the possibility of pitching in the bullpen, to which Jones scoffed and replied, “next question.”
Cherington said the response to the question was more of a misunderstanding, rather than Jones taking a hard stance about his potential role.
“My view of the comments and talking to Jared is that he wanted to talk about the outing and not what was going to happen three weeks from now,” he said.
No matter what his initial role will be, the Pirates are adamant they still view him as a starting pitcher long-term.
“We certainly believe he’s a starting pitcher,” Cherington explained. “We’ll make the determinations about exactly who is in what role when he’s ready to come back on the team. Certainly very possible he’s starting games but we want to take it an outing at a time with all these guys.”
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