Jared Jones came into the year with two statistical goals for himself: Record an ERA under 3.00 and strike out 100 batters.
The former might be a little tougher to reach after a short start Saturday, allowing four runs in the fourth inning, seeing his ERA jump from 3.12 to 3.59. However, with 82 strikeouts through his first 14 appearances, the latter looks very probable.
But the ante was upped before that start.
“I’ve got a side bet with my roommates,” Jones told me over the phone. “If I get under a 2.9, then I’ll do something fun.”
What counts as something fun for a 20-year-old fast-rising pitching prospect? Maybe some Top Golf. Or a Rays game. Or add to the collection of 20 pairs of shoes he has in his room.
He seems to be in a good position to reach those goals. Those 82 strikeouts have come over just 52 2/3 innings, accounting for over half of his outs and 35.5% of his batters faced.
His roommates are fellow 2020 draft picks Nick Garcia and Logan Hofmann, both of whom are having solid seasons in Bradenton as well. They came from the college ranks, and as this year has progressed, Jones has learned more about the art of pitching from them.
“They know a lot about pitching,” Jones said. “For me in high school, I just went out there and competed. Didn’t really know much about pitching. I feel like day by day, I learn something new with those two guys being around.”
Jones could get by with just competing and throwing at La Mirada high school in California, pumping high-90s with a wipeout slider. It put the high schooler at No. 41 on Baseball America’s 2020 draft prospects, and the Pirates took him with the 44th overall pick.
He recently took a jump on Baseball America's version of the Pirates' top prospects list, climbing from No. 15 to No. 12, even after the draft and trade deadline.
Take one look at the fastball and you can see why. Unlike most 20-year-old Class Low-A pitchers, he can pump upper 90s:
His fastball first started to reach the upper-90s going into his junior year of high school, but he would tail off back to the 90-93 range by the end of the game. Now with a better exercise plan and arm stretch, he can still pump it up to 98 and 99 mph, but sits consistently in the 95-96 mph range.
As expected, that high-velocity fastball comes with a ton of spin, around 2,500 rotations per minute (RPM).
His slider gets a lot of movement from its high spin (2,600 RPM):
And then there is his quarantine project, a curveball, which also has bite and gets a healthy 2,700 RPM of spin:
That’s a rare combination. Going by FanGraphs prospect board, there are only 10 other players they consider prospects that can top out at 99 mph and have a breaking pitch with 2,700 RPM or more. Jones almost has two breaking pitches that can do it.
But it comes with some wildness, like in his last start Saturday. Those gifs above came from that outing, but he also was pulled in the fourth inning after walking two hitters with the bases loaded. If there’s a knock on him, it’s his command. However, by focusing on arm angles and tunneling pitches for extra whiffs, he’s gotten a better feel for how his pitches work and how to start to control them better.
“I think just maturing, knowing my stuff will play at these levels,” Jones said about his stuff. “It’s really more about confidence.”
Raw but projectable might be the best way to describe Jones, who has front of the rotation potential. So far, he is showing that potential off in his first turn against a higher level of competition.
Under normal circumstances, a pitcher like Jones would be in consideration for a late-season promotion, but given that he’s a prep player in his first year of pro ball, that doesn’t seem as likely. It’s all the same for Jones, who isn’t watching what’s going on at the other levels of the minors too intently. He’s focused on getting better first.
Plus, he has some unfinished business in Bradenton.
“It would kind of be cool [to stay] because we’re on pace for the playoffs, and I think we could really win it. It would be really cool to stay here and win it. But if I get promoted, no complaints there.”
MORE MINOR LEAGUE NOTES
• Henry Davis is living up to the lofty expectations thus far as he's hitting .308 for Greensboro including launching the first home run of his professional career last Tuesday. Davis is 8-for-26 in eight games with the Grasshoppers including a triple, two doubles, three home runs, seven RBIs and four walks.
Blast Off! @henrydavis32 hits his first home run as a Grasshopper! Or in tonight's case, as an Ocelotes! pic.twitter.com/wl6hct4dBT
— Greensboro Grasshoppers (@GSOHoppers) August 18, 2021
Davis is expected to finish the season with Greensboro and will be splitting time at catcher with Eli Wilson to round out the season.
• One of the hottest hitters in the organization is Greensboro outfielder Will Matthiessen, the High A East player of the week, who had a nine-game hit streak end on Friday.
Matthiessen is slashing .232/.310/.433 for the season with the Grasshoppers though in August that slash line sits at .328/.379/.630. The cause of his low average could very well be just some awful luck when he started out as he's hitting the ball hard regularly and his batting average on balls in play is an astounding .364 at the moment.
• Altoona outfielder Matt Fraizer has picked up right where he left off in Greensboro hitting .379 so far in 16 games with the Curve since his promotion August 5. In that time, he's hit two home run, three triples and six doubles accumulating a slash line of .379/.422/.690.
What's even more impressive with Fraizer is his strikeout rate which is 20 percent in Altoona while it was 24.4 percent with the Grasshoppers. What this means is that Fraizer is more often than not, putting the ball in play which makes sense given his BABIP is a ridiculous .455 although it is a rather small sample size thus far with the Curve.
• On the flip side of Fraizer is Altoona first baseman Mason Martin who is striking out at an alarming 34.7 percent clip. Martin has also slowed down considerably at the plate as well of late.
Martin has only managed a total of eight extra base hits in August with six doubles and two home runs, but during that span, he's also struck out 34 times. The strikeout rate must go down if Martin wants to head to Indianapolis which at one point seemed like a foregone conclusion, but now, might not be in the cards this season.
• Altoona Curve pitcher Roansy Contreras threw a 30-pitch live batting practice session Saturday afternoon at PNG Field. Contreras is working his way back from a forearm injury, but is inching ever closer to starting for the Curve. It's expected Contreras will be activated from the injured list within the next week or so.
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