As expected, Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jared Jones will be placed on the injured list with elbow discomfort. The good news is that Tuesday’s tests revealed no ligament damage, and therefore, surgery won’t be required. He won’t throw for six weeks. Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was the first to report this news that Pirates fans had been anxiously awaiting since Jones skipped his last spring start.
Sources: No torn ligaments, no surgery for Jared Jones. He will go six weeks without throwing. Overall encouraging news for the Pirates.
— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) March 25, 2025
Pirates Will Place Jared Jones on Injured List
Last year, Jones surprised the baseball world by breaking camp with the big club as a rookie after a splendid spring that was hard to ignore. He was the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect at the time. The fearless right-hander began the regular season with a bang, becoming just the fourth pitcher to register seven strikeouts in his first four games since 1893. After his July 3 start, he was 5-6 with a 3.56 ERA while holding opponents to a .220/.283/.398 slash line. Unfortunately, he was placed on the IL with a lat strain the next day. Jones returned on August 27, but his six remaining starts didn’t go as well. He finished at 6-8 with a 4.14 ERA and 1.192 WHIP.
Taking the place of Jones in the Pirates’ rotation will be right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski. Mlodzinski had a nice rookie season of his own in 2023, establishing himself as a high-leverage option with a 2.25 ERA and 1.278 WHIP. Last year, he came back to Earth a bit with a 3.38 ERA, although his 1.184 WHIP was an improvement. In the spring, it was revealed that he expressed an interest in becoming a starter in 2025. He has five major league starts under his belt, but those were situations where he was used as an opener. Starting won’t be foreign to Mlodzinski, however. He made 36 minor league starts, including at Double-A Altoona as recently as 2022.
Jones going to the IL opened the door for either Hunter Stratton, Peter Strzelecki, or Joey Wentz to make the team as a relief pitcher. As of this writing, no final decision has been made, and Jones hasn’t been formally placed on the IL.
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