Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jared Jones makes history at the Home-Opener

If you watched Pirates pitcher Jared Jones' start against the Miami Marlins, you could see why there is so much excitement around the former 2nd round pick. Jones was throwing in the upper 90s consistently, struck out 10 Marlins, and earned his first Major League Win. However, some wondered if Jones would be able to have success against a better team. The Marlins are the worst team in Baseball after their first 2 series of the year so how much of a true test was that for Jones?

Well, Derek Shelton put Jared Jones in a rotation spot that wound up making him the starter for the Pirates Home-Opener. This would be the second start of the young righty's career. Anytime a pitcher gets to open either the season or at the home ballpark it is a big deal, a bit of an honor if you will. In addition to the pre

In addition to the pressure of pitching the Home-Opener, Jones had to face one of the best lineups from the American League, the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles are an impressive Organization right now, they have hitters like Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman who ranked among the top hitters in the sport at one time and have lived up to that billing. This was an American League playoff team just last season.

Well, the right-handed pitching prospect posted about as good of a final stat line as one could have hoped for, at least from a fans' perspective. Jones worked his way through 6 innings of work, striking out 7 hitters, and he did not walk a single batter. He did give up 2 runs on 2 solo home runs that came off the bats of Gunnar Henderson and Ryan O'Hearn.

Despite the Pirates losing the game and Jones earning his first career loss, he did make history in his start. Jones has now tied Shohei Ohtani for the most swings and misses through 2 career starts. Both generated 43, with Jones posting 21 against the Orioles.

This is super suggestive of what the Pirates have in the hard-throwing 22-year-old right-hander.

Ohtani did this during a season in which he was 24 years old and also had been pitching professionally in the NPB. Jones was drafted out of high school in 2020 and is already posting these crazy numbers. Now obviously it is just 2 starts and he needs to continue but this is not some fluke either. Jones has a real chance to be exactly what the Pittsburgh Pirates team has been lacking, a pitcher with #1 stuff.