3 Pirates pitching prospects who became more important after Jared Jones' injury

The Pittsburgh Pirates will, unfortunately, be without Jared Jones for the first few months of the 2025 season. Jones was a key piece of the Pirates’ 2024 rotation, and given the sort of talent he displayed, missing him for any extended period of time hurts the Pirates’ rotation. Luckily, they have some depth to back it up - and enough to cover Jones until he is healthy once again.

The best prospect everyone is looking forward to seeing is Bubba Chandler. He’s a top-10 prospect in baseball, per Baseball America, and in the top 15, according to MLB Pipeline. Thomas Harrington, another consensus top 100 pitching prospect, is also highly anticipated. Both could make their MLB debut around the time Paul Skenes did last year in early May. They’re two of the best pitching prospects in baseball, but many other arms in the Pirates’ system just became more important alongside them as well.

3 most Pirates important pitching prospects (other than Bubba Chandler) after Jared Jones injury

3. Braxton Ashcraft

Braxton Ashcraft’s last two seasons have been promising. After being drafted in the second round of the 2018 draft, Ashcraft did not pitch in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season. He only made 10 starts and pitched 38.2 innings in 2021 before injuries began cropping up, and ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery. 

Ashcraft was outstanding in 2023, albeit in only 52.2 innings of work, but he followed that up with a 2024 season where he pitched to a 2.84 ERA, 2.92 FIP, and 1.07 WHIP across 73.2 innings between Altoona and Indianapolis. Ashcraft struck out just over a quarter of his opponents, with a 25.8% K%, and held them to a HR/9 ratio of 0.74.

Ashcraft has also displayed an elite ability to limit walks. In 2023, he only handed out a free pass to 5.3% of batters faced, but cut that down even further to just 4% last season. His free pass percentage was the eighth-lowest among minor league pitchers with at least 70 IP in 2024, and he was one of only 23 pitchers with both an ERA and FIP under 3.00 and a K%-BB% of 20% or greater.

Although Ashcraft has peripherals similar to those of fellow top pitching prospect Thomas Harrington, he has much more heat to his four-seam fastball. Ashcraft sits 95-96 MPH, topping out at 98. This is also how hard he was throwing in his recent spring training sample size. Baseball America grades his fastball as an above-average pitch, but both his low-80s curveball and upper-80s slider project as plus offerings. Both were also effective at Triple-A last season, inducing a whiff rate of 35.3% and 45.1%, respectively. Ashcraft will occasionally mix in an upper-80s changeup, and while it had a 44.4% whiff rate at Indy, he used it less than 10% of the time, making it a fringe offering at best. Still, with his outstanding control, having one above-average and two plus pitches makes him an intriguing arm.

Ashcraft’s biggest concern is durability. After missing nearly all of three seasons, the Pirates have severely limited Ashcraft’s workload the last two years. Still, he could be one of the first names the Pirates call upon if they need another pitcher who can start games. He is already on the 40-man roster, giving him an inside track on a rotation spot early in the year if they need his services.

2. Hunter Barco

Another second-round pick that could be important to the Pirates in 2025 now, given Jared Jones’ injury, is left-hander Hunter Barco. Barco’s 2024 season was a breakout campaign where he spent most of the season at Greensboro but ended his year at Altoona. Thanks to an extremely promising spring training, Barco might play an important role in the first half of the year for the Bucs.

Last season, Barco pitched to the tune of a 3.27 ERA, 3.29 FIP, and 1.06 WHIP in 66.2 innings. He had an outstanding 31.3% K%, with an 8.3% walk rate and 0.68 HR/9. Barco had the 34th-best strikeout rate among pitchers who started at least 15 games in the minor leagues last season. However, only 29 pitchers started that many games with a K% above 30% and BB% below 10%. 

According to both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, Barco was sitting around 92-94 MPH with his sinker last season, but in spring training this season, he was up to 95.9 MPH on average, topping out at 97.1. He only pitched 2.2 innings in spring training, but hopefully he can maintain that velocity spike into the regular season (and into starts). Last season, there were only 59 pitchers at the Major League level whose sinkers averaged 95+ MPH (min. 50 plate appearances). His sinker also has better ride through the zone and more arm-side run than most other pitchers who regularly throw sinkers.

Along with a sinker, he’ll mix in a slider around the low/mid-80s, a mid-80s splitter, and a changeup with similar velocity. Between his two offspeed pitches, his splitter is the better offering. On top of that, Barco has a low arm angle, adding a layer of deception to his pitches. The command has steadily improved, but according to Pipeline, he will need to continue to work on his strike-throwing ability with his splitter.

Like Ashcraft, Barco has had Tommy John surgery before. He underwent the procedure in his final college season in ‘22. 2023 was mostly a lost year, given his recovery, as he only tossed 18.1 innings. The Pirates then shut him down for most of the second half of 2024. While he is still building up his workload, his age (will be 24 for all of 2025) and rising prospect status could get him an early season look this year.

1. Po-Yu Chen

Po-Yu Chen enters 2025 as one of the Pirates’ best-underrated prospects, with only FanGraphs including him as one of their top 30 prospects (even on that list, he's only sitting at No. 30). The Bucs signed the right-hander out of Taiwan during the 2020-2021 offseason. Now, he’s on the verge of potentially making his MLB debut this season.

Chen has already pitched this year, as he was used out of Chinese Taipei’s bullpen in the World Baseball Classic qualifier this spring against South Africa. He only pitched three innings, but they were three masterful innings, as he only allowed one walk, no runs, and struck out four opponents. But what was more promising is that Chen saw an uptick in velocity. His sinker sat at 93.6 MPH and topped out at 94.8 MPH. Chen also will throw a four-seam fastball, a splitter that is a plus offering, and a curveball that averaged out with around 3000 RPM of spin in his WBC qualifier debut.

Chen spent the entire 2024 season at Double-A Altoona. April was rough for the Taiwanese right-hander, as he walked seven batters, allowed three home runs, and put up a whopping 13 earned runs in just 14.2 innings pitched. Despite getting off on the wrong foot, Chen quickly turned things around in the month of May through the end of the season.

Chen’s final 119.1 innings of the year yielded a respectable 3.54 ERA, 4.00 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP. His K% of 17.8% was a downturn from previous seasons, as he struck out about a quarter of his opponents in both 2022 and 2023. Still, he maintained a strong 7.2% walk rate (where the league average was 9.5%), and he carried an 0.68 HR/9 ratio in last season's campaign.

If Chen’s improved velocity isn’t just a one-game wonder, and thanks in part to a short sprint in the WBC qualifier, this could be a huge step forward for him in 2025. Now, with Jones out, Chen might be one of the arms the Pirates promote if they need a spot start or a multi-inning arm out of the 'pen. With the Pirates' current situation, having a pitcher who can make a start or come out of the 'pen is valuable.