Jared Jones and Bailey Falter's new pitches could be keys to Pirates' 2025 success

Jared Jones and Bailey Falter have both delivered many strong performances for the Pittsburgh Pirates this year. They both do it in very contrasting ways. Jones is a flamethrower, regularly hitting 99 MPH and racking up a ton of strikeouts. Falter does it while tossing a lower-90s four-seamer and inducing poor contact. But one thing they both have in common is that they throw a curveball, and in their most recent starts, Falter and Jones showed a new look to batters with the breaking pitch.

Jones started the final game of the Washington Nationals series, and it was easily his best outing since coming off the injured list. He fired off seven innings, allowing just two earned runs, did not walk a batter, and struck out seven. Jones’ velocity on the day was up on every pitch. His fastball sat 98.2 MPH, compared to his season average of 97.3 MPH, but the biggest change was in his curve.

Jones’ curveball averaged out at 83.8 MPH. Prior to this game, his curve had averaged out at 80.4 MPH and topped out at 84.4 MPH. Jones nearly averaged his previous max velo in this noteworthy start. Jones sacrificed some movement, as his vertical break was down by three inches and the horizontal break was down by an inch, but the pitch still induced 15 called and swinging strikes. 

Another significant development was that Jones threw his curveball 32% of the time during his recent outing. It was his second most used pitch behind his four-seamer, which he utilized 40% of the time. This was the first time in his young MLB career that he used something other than his fastball or slider among his two most used offerings in a game.

Jared Jones, Bailey Falter show off changed curveball usage for Pirates

Falter, meanwhile, showed off a tweak in the last game of the series against the Miami Marlins. Like Jones, he had an utterly dominant outing. Falter started the game off with 6.1 no-hit innings. In total, he tossed 7.1 frames, allowed just two hits, struck out five batters, and walked three. Falter’s curveball had an even greater uptick in velocity than Jones' pitch.

The southpaw’s curve averaged out at 81 MPH, topping out at 82.7 MPH. Prior to his game against the Marlins, his curveball was sitting at 77.5 MPH on average. Falter’s fastest curveball heading into his recent start was clocked at 81.9 MPH. It kept opponents off balance, inducing seven called and swinging strikes.

The added velocity came at the cost of vertical break, as he lost six inches of drop. The horizontal movement stayed about the same, as he lost just one inch off the pitch. Falter used his curveball 18% of the time, which was only slightly more frequently than in prior outings. 

While these changes only represented one start's worth of progress for each pitcher, both hurlers had their most dominant outings of the second half of the season after displaying the shift. If their new curveballs can remain effective, that adds another valuable pitch each can utilize in the long run. That’s especially true in Jones’ case, as he could definitely use another offering to mix in with his four-seamer and slider.