Morning Rundown: Jared Jones continues to struggle with long ball, Pirates drop series finale against Giants
Jones gives up two more home runs and picked up the loss
Jared Jones has been fantastic this year for the Pirates, but if you want to poke a hole in his game, he’s been a little susceptible to the long ball early in his major league career.
In six starts this season, Jones has now allowed seven home runs, which is tied for the third most in all of baseball.
He allowed two more on Sunday against the San Francisco Giants, luckily for him there were nobody on base for either.
Even despite the home run issues, Jones has just a 3.18 ERA, still with just five walks through his 34 innings pitched.
Rowdy Tellez picked up a pair of doubles for the Pirates, but the offense could only put together three other hits on the day, losing the series finale against the San Francisco Giants.
Jared Jones allowed three runs on six hits and one walk, only striking out three, across his five innings of work.
The Pirates decided to flip-flop Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz in their original spots in the lineup, and it worked. They both picked up hits in the lead off spot (Hayes) and three-hole (Cruz).
Jared Triolo drove in both runs on the day, the first on a groundout, the other on a single.
Altoona Curve activated OF Connor Scott
Altoon Curve activated C Abrahan Gutierrez on the 7-day injured list
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Top Exit Velocity
Rowdy Tellez - PIT - 109 MPH - Double
Oneil Cruz - PIT - 106.4 MPH - Single
Garret Forrester - BRD - 106.3 MPH- Single
Rowdy Tellez - PIT - 105.2 MPH - Double
Bryan Reynolds - PIT - 105 MPH - Groundout
Top Pitch Velocity
Jared Jones - PIT - 99.8 MPH
Jared Jones - PIT - 99.6 MPH
Kyle Nicolas - PIT - 99.4 MPH
Kyle Nicolas - PIT - 99.4 MPH
Kyle Nicolas - PIT - 99.3 MPH
Most Whiffs
Jared Jones - PIT - 7
Khristian Curtis - BRD - 7
Anthony Solometo - ALT - 6
Nick Dombkowski - ALT - 6
Drake Fellows - GBO - 6
Indianapolis Indians - PPD
Altoona Curve - 5 vs Akron RubberDucks - 6
Top Hitter - Jackson Glenn: 3-4, 2 R, BB, 2 2B
Top Pitcher - Nick Dombkowski: 3 IP, 2 H, 3 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 4 vs Greenville Drive - 1
Top Hitter - Jack Brannigan: 1-4, 2 R, RBI, HR
Top Pitcher - Alessandro Ercolani: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K
Bradenton Marauders - 3 vs Clearwater Threshers - 5
Top Hitter - Garret Forrester: 2-4, RBI
Top Pitcher - Peyton Stumbo: 1.2 IP, BB
I think for Jones to stay successful, the whip and batting average against need to stay low. In order for this to happen, his home runs given up will probably be high. In the last 5 years, some of the best pitchers have had Cy Young (or near) seasons with low whips and high home run totals. Justin Verlander, Gerit Cole, Shane Bieber and Aaron Nola come to mind.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes-jared-jones-has-gone-from-raw-to-remarkable/
Nice article about Jones and his development over at FanGraphs.
Someone posted recently that Jones in fact, was not developed by the Pirates, but developed by Thomas Harrington.
Some of the stuff you read in these rooms is hilarious. The lengths some go to make a shitty org look even shittier blows my mind.