Paul Skenes' slugging college teammate should be on the Pirates’ 2025 MLB Draft radar

The Pittsburgh Pirates do not have much in the minor leagues when it comes to talent at first base. In the Pirates’ defense, first base is typically a position players end up at out of necessity, rather than start their careers intending to play. Regardless, it would be nice if the Pirates added more minor league depth at the position.

Thankfully, they could have the chance to add a college slugger in this year’s draft who also happens to share the same name as a Pirates pitcher.

That player is Louisiana State University’s first baseman Jared Jones. Jones’ first season in college also happened to be the same year Paul Skenes was drafted by the Bucs. In his sophomore season, Jones swatted 28 home runs with a .747 slugging percentage in 295 plate appearances. Now, Jones is off to an even better season.

In his first 121 plate appearances, Jones notched a remarkable eight dingers with a .760 slugging percentage. Jones is batting well over .400 at .420, with an OBP of .504. He’s drawn as many walks to strikeouts, with 15 each. The raw power is off the charts. Jones regularly finds himself at the top of exit velocity leaderboards. For example, on March 11th, Jones had one 113.8 MPH and another 109.5 MPH batted ball. No other LSU player during that game hit a 105 MPH batted ball. One of his hardest-hit batted balls of the season came on March 2, when he hit a ball 116.4 MPH. While this was partially thanks to the use of metal bats, Jones regularly finds himself ripping batted balls reaching 110+ MPH (according to LSU Baseball Data’s X/Twitter account).

LSU slugger Jared Jones belongs on Pittsburgh Pirates' MLB Draft radar

Although Jones has the potential for light tower power, he’ll have to make more contact if he's going to really put everything together at the next level. Jones struck out in over a third of his plate appearances in 2023. He cut that down significantly to 25.8% in 2024, which is still a worryingly high rate. But so far into the 2025 season, he’s only rocking a K% of 12.4%.

Jones’ bat is his meal ticket, so he has to hit. He’s limited to first base, but has a much stronger arm than what you’d typically see from a first baseman. He was a strong-armed catcher as a high schooler, but has only put on the gear in three games throughout his college career. The only other position Jones has manned is third base, but for only two games this year, which is also the only two games he’s seen there as a college player.

Jones is definitely at risk of being a Mason Martin 2.0: a first base-only slugger with upper-deck-power when he makes contact, which happens inconsistently at best. However, if Jones continues to carry a strikeout rate below 15% as the college season progresses, there might be some merit in his hit tool improvement. There are not very many college batters with the sort of raw power Jones has. 

The Pirates should seriously consider adding a second Jared Jones to the organization. He’s one of the best power hitters in the college ranks. Jones not only brings a high upside with his power potential, but would arguably become the Pirates’ best first base prospect. Very few hit the ball as hard as he does, and while there are some obvious red flags, there’s little risk in keeping an eye on him, and potentially taking him in this year’s draft.