Jared Jones shut down one Pirates question faster than any hitter in scoreless rehab gem

Jared Jones' return to the Pittsburgh Pirates is imminent. His long recovery road from an internal brace procedure on his right elbow has been grueling to wait through, but after his latest rehab start in Double-A Altoona, the right-hander looks more ready than ever for a return to the majors.

In that outing, he completely stifled the Harrisburg Senators (Washington Nationals' Double-A affiliate), tossing four scoreless innings while striking out four. He's now responsible for a 0.90 ERA over 10 innings and three rehab starts, most importantly showing no signs of rust when it comes to command (just one walk and 11 strikeouts).

He'll remain on a strict pitch count even when he does return to Pittsburgh, but he's proving that he can still capably turn over a lineup a couple times even after the long layoff. That's starter material, and according to the man himself, he won't accept any other role.

"No. Next question," is a rather blunt way of saying that he won't pitch out of the bullpen, but it gets the point across all the same. Despite a full rotation, the Pirates will need to make room for their star pitcher when he's ready.

Jared Jones won't pitch out of the bullpen, which was always a poor solution to a good problem to have

Given the pitch count limitations his recovery has imposed, it made some slight modicum of sense to suggest that Jones would benefit, at least initially, from shorter stints as a reliever. He certainly hasn't lost any velocity from his baseball hiatus, and there's something abjectly terrifying about the idea of him, Mason Montgomery, and Gregory Soto hurling thunderbolts to close out games.

But both from a developmental standpoint and the long-term goals of the team, it's not in anyone's best interest to stash Jones in the bullpen. His rookie season (4.14 ERA, 121 2/3 IP, 26.2% strikeout rate) was proof of concept enough that he can thrive as a stater at the highest level, and now that he's 24 years old and down to his final pre-arb year, it would behoove the Pirates to get him comfortable with starting on a regular basis again.

Perhaps that means a six-man rotation is in the cards, self-defeating though that idea may be in the long run (why would you want Paul Skenes starting less often?). Maybe Jones and Bubba Chandler -- who is struggling with some serious command issues -- will piggyback off each other until both prove ready to handle full workloads.

No matter what the solution, Jones' return will only benefit the Pirates on their quest to make the playoffs for the first time since 2015. With him in tow, they'll once again have one of baseball's best rotations operating at full capacity, offering hope that they can make some serious noise in October if they can get there.

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