Pirates Prospects

Pirates Prospect Watch: Jones Struggles, Smith-Njigba RBI Machine

Published

8 months ago

September 22, 2023

Before Thursday night’s game, the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A squad scored a combined 33 runs in their series with Rochester. Fast forward to Thursday’s game, and it was the total opposite.

The Indianapolis Indians fell to the Rochester Redwings 3-1. In addition, Jared Jones started Thursday’s game for the Indians.

Jones struggled during his 4.2 innings of work, allowing six hits, three runs (two earned), two walks, and struck out six. In addition, Jones allowed two homers.

Jones had a hard time putting batters away, as he threw 89 pitches (60 strikes) to get through just 4.2 innings.

Jones kept his pitching arsenal predictable with a 63% four-seam usage and a 28% slider usage. In addition, with seven four-seams put into play, Rochester averaged 93.5 mph in exit velocity against Jones.

One of the lone bright spots in Thursday’s game was Canaan Smith-Njigba picking up his 23rd RBI in September. On a sour note, Nick Gonzales dawned the golden sombrero, going 0-4 with four strikeouts.

Indianapolis (68-77)

LF Canaan Smith-Njigba

Game stats: 1-4 with an RBI
Season stats: .280/.363/.471, 15 homers, one triple, 26 doubles, and 73 RBIs (382 at-bats, or 103 games at Triple-A)

DH Joe Perez

Game stats: 2-4
Season stats: .270/.359/.441, 18 homers, two triples, 15 doubles, and 69 RBIs (429 at-bats, or 118 games between Double-A and Triple-A)

The offensive well ran dry for the Indians during their 3-1 defeat against Rochester. A few worthy notes include Cody Bolton pitching a perfect ninth inning and the Indianapolis bullpen combined to throw 4.1 innings of one-hit ball.

The first homer Jones gave up was a four-seam left in the middle of the plate to Frankie Tostado. It had an exit velocity of 99.3 mph and traveled 377 feet.

The second homer was surrendered to Matt Adams. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Jones threw a 95 mph fastball at the top of the zone on the inner third, and Adams sent the ball 420 feet at an exit velocity of 105 mph.

Needless to say, it was not the best of nights for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ third-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.