Sure seems like Pirates are hinting at Jared Jones injury replacement with recent roster moves

Pirates fans discovering Jared Jones was dealing with elbow discomfort was not something pleasant to wake up to Wednesday morning, but here we are. The future for Jones in 2025 is still up in the air, but it seems like the Pirates have been hinting at this for a little longer than when it was initially reported.

At the very least, Jones' barking elbow is a simple explanation for why Thomas Harrington has hung around big league camp for longer than other prospects. Other prospects that were rotation options, but were reassigned to minor league camp, include Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, and Mike Burrows. Even though two of those three have had more time in Triple-A than Harrington, he remains with the big club, which could mean the Pirates are building him up to possibly take the place of Jones in the rotation to start the year.

Harrington recently made his first spring start on Monday, tossing 62 pitches across 3.2 innings of work. In that frame, he allowed a hit, a walk, and an earned run while striking out three. That put his spring ERA to 2.70 across 6.2 innings, along with a 0.90 WHIP. He definitely has impressed this year, and was even named MLB's 79th best prospect in baseball after missing the top 100 last season.

Thomas Harrington could join the Pirates on Opening Day following the Jared Jones injury.

Harrington has pitched in the minors for two seasons now after being selected with the 36th pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. He has quickly progressed through those two seasons, and now has a career Minor League ERA of 3.09, with a WHIP of 1.11 and a 9.60 K/9. He brings a deep arsenal to the mix, with a pitch that was off the charts in recent weeks. At 23 years old, he would be just another young arm to bolster this rotation, and could definitely be a Rookie of the Year wild card, alongside Chandler.

All we can hope for is for Jones' elbow discomfort to be minor, and for him to return quickly. The worst case scenario is for Tommy John surgery, but we don't know all the details just yet. Hopefully, Harrington is the guy they go with and he can perform at the big league level.