Pittsburgh Pirates: Four Prospects to Watch the Rest of the 2022 Season

RHP Jared Jones

The first half of 2022 hasn’t treated Jared Jones well. In 80.2 innings, the hard-throwing right-hander has a 4.80 ERA, 4.47 FIP, and 1.38 WHIP. Granted, he does have a strong 29.3% strikeout rate, but a sub-par 10.3% walk rate and 1.23 HR/9. Jones had a high ERA last season, but many underlying factors, such as a .385 batting average on balls in play massively inflated his surface numbers.

Jones went into the break with two good games, pitching 12.1 innings, struck out 14 batters, and allowing just 3 earned runs and zero home runs. This kept his ERA and FIP below 3.00. It’s an extremely small sample size but could be the start of a hot streak for Jones. He also has a 3.56 FIP through his last 28 innings.

It’s also worth noting that Jones is young for his level. He’s just 20 years old, and the average pitcher age at High-A is 23.1 years old. The average hitter age is 22.6 years old. Priester was the same age as Jones was when he was at Greensboro, and it took him until the second half to get fully acclimated to the competition.

Jones has one of the best pitch arsenals in the Pirate farm system. He throws an upper-90s fastball along with a great slider. His curveball is another above-average pitch he can rely on. His changeup projects to be average. When the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Jones, they knew they were taking some risk with a high school arm with some command issues, but walks haven’t been a significant issue for him.

Jones arguably has a higher ceiling than Priester. He has better overall stuff but a bit more risk. Still, I think Jones could have a big second half of 2022. He has the talent and just needs consistency. Maybe after getting familiar with the new level, he’ll figure things out during the rest of July, August, and September.