Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Jared Jones, Thomas Harrington Turn in Dominant Starts & More

Altoona offense wastes great pitching performance

Doing their best impression of the Pirate offense, Double-A Altoona was shutout on Thursday night. The Curve went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position while collecting just two hits in a 2-0 loss agaisnt the Richmond Flying Squirrels. With the loss, the Curve are now 28-24 on the season.

Catcher Abrahan Gutierrez was 1-for-3 with already his 2nd double since joining the Curve earlier this week. Liover Peguero bat lead off and went 1-for-4. The rest of the Curve lineup went 0-for-23 and Altoona did not draw a walk.

The story of the night for Altoona was toung righty Jared Jones. Jones no hit the Flying Squirrels through 5 innings, and allowed just one hit in 6.1 innings pitched. The only hit he allowed was a solo home run, he walked one and struck out five. He also filled the strike zone throwing 64 of 89 pitches for strikes.

At just 21-years-old, Jones now owns a 2.21 ERA in 40.2 innings pitched in his first season at the Double-A level. He owns a 13:41 BB:K ratio and has allowed just 3 home runs. This success has come despite spending time on the injured list.

Jones throws a power fastball that has a lot of movement. He also has a plus slider and a quickly developing changeup. There is a strong argument to be made that Jones, who recently joined Baseball America's top 100 prospects, is the best pitching prospect in the Pirate farm system.

Noe Toribio pitched the final 1.2 innings of the night for Altoona after Jones was lifted. Toribio allowed a run on two hits, no walks, and a strikeout. Control is always the big concern with Toribio, so no walks and throwing 17 of 30 pitches for strikes were both encouraging to see.