Jared Jones will be shut down from throwing for two weeks after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 lat muscle strain, Derek Shelton said Friday. Jones, who acknowledged feeling tightness during the fifth inning of Wednesday's start against the Cardinals at PNC Park, was placed on the 15-day injured list Thursday.
“We needed to get the imaging and we needed our doctors to see him," Shelton said. "In a situation like this, we never speculate on that. After he was seen by the doctors and after he got the imaging, we had a way better idea of where he was at.”
Shelton denied any correlation between Jones' injury and the fact that he had his previous start skipped, a move that was made in an effort to try and monitor his workload moving forward. Jones threw a live batting practice session during the 11-day window in between starts to help deal with any potential rust and simulate the intensity he might experience in a starting situation.
“If it would’ve been a situation where it would have been no-throw with that, I could understand how we would lead to that. But we threw a simulated game or a live BP, so we had the intensity up for him," Shelton said. "We talked about that while that was happening or prior to. We wanted to make sure he faced hitters. It wasn’t just a bullpen. I don’t think any of us think that we have pitching figured out in any stretch of the imagination -- and I’m talking about that globally, not just the Pirates -- but the fact that we did ramp his intensity up, we still did make sure he threw, no one can predict when guys are going to get hurt. You can throw every fourth day for a full year and not get hurt. Then a guy goes out and throws one day and gets hurt, so I don’t think we can speculate on that in any way. I don’t think that’s fair.”
With Jones now on the IL, the Pirates are back in a spot where they're missing a member of their starting rotation after recently getting Martin Perez back in the fold. But the team's starting pitching depth doesn't look as bleak as it once did. Marco Gonzales and Quinn Priester are both on rehab assignments with Class AAA Indianapolis and Luis Ortiz has proven to be a reliable starting option as well.
“The one thing is you can never have enough starting pitching depth," Shelton said. "The fact that we do have Marco out on rehab, Quinn on rehab, Luis has pitched in that role and may be available to pitch in that role at some point in the future, you would never say comforting because you can never have enough starting pitching but the fact that we have some depth, I think, is important.”