Pirates’ Jared Jones lands on IL with lat injury as Paul Skenes’ path to NL ROY honors gets more clear

Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Jared Jones, who is having an impressive rookie season, has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain, the team announced Thursday. Outfielder Josh Palacios was called up in a corresponding move. Jones exited Wednesday’s start after five innings and 78 pitches with tightness in the lat.

“I kind of felt it later in the game,” Jones said after Wednesday’s game (via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). “It kind of got really tight on me in the fifth inning there. Told (the trainer), so yeah, here we are. It’s nothing to be concerned about.” 

Jones, 22, has a 3.56 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 16 starts and 91 innings this season. Both his upper-90s fastball and upper-80s slider have excellent swing-and-miss rates, and he’s also flashed a promising curveball and changeup. Jones has also shown better control than expected, walking 7.3% of batters faced this year after a career 9.9% walk rate in the minors.

Injuries are never good, though the Pirates were going to have to monitor Jones’ workload in the second half anyway, so a little break in July isn’t the worst thing in the world (as long as it the injury is minor). In the minors, Jones threw 122 2/3 innings in 2022 and 126 1/3 innings in 2023. The Pirates are unlikely to push him beyond 130-140 innings this year.

The Jones injury also creates a more clear path for teammate Paul Skenes to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. Jones is hurt, Shota Imanaga is coming back to Earth, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is out long-term with a shoulder injury. That leaves Jackson Merrill and Masyn Winn as Skenes’ primary NL Rookie of the Year competition at the moment.

Here is the NL rookie WAR leaderboard:

1. SS Masyn Winn, Cardinals: 2.9 WAR
2. CF Jackson Merrill, Padres: 2.3 WAR
3. SP Paul Skenes, Pirates: 2.3 WAR
4. RP Bryan Hudson, Brewers: 2.3 WAR
5. 3B Joey Ortiz, Brewers: 2.1 WAR

Jones is not far below Ortiz at 1.8 WAR. Also, Skenes did not debut until May 29, remember. The other four players on that list were all on the Opening Day roster. Skenes has made up a lot of ground in a short period of time.

Of course, Pittsburgh will have to monitor Skenes’ workload in the second half. He is already the face of the franchise, the single most important player in the organization, and they will handle him carefully. Skenes has thrown 77 2/3 innings between Triple-A and MLB in 2024. His career high is the 129 1/3 innings he threw between college and pro ball in 2023.

In addition to the NL Rookie of the Year race, the Jones injury could also impact the National League’s wild-card race. The Pirates are only three games behind the third wild-card spot despite a 41-44 record. The NL is wide open and Pittsburgh just lost their second best starter for the foreseeable future. That hurts their contention chances.