Jones’ injury could be setback to reduced workloads

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting rotation suffered a serious setback when rookie right-hander Jared Jones was placed on the 15-day injured list before Thursday’s game with a right lat strain.

“I think everyone knows what he means to us and where we’re at so, out of precaution, he’s still being evaluated.” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The hope is right now we have to figure out what it is and how significant it is so that’s the most important thing.”

Before Jones’ start against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, Shelton called his first half “outstanding.” Jones leads the team with 98 strikeouts and a 1.11 WHIP and his nine quality starts in 16 outings this season are tied with Mitch Keller for the most among Pirates pitchers. Jones has had seven or more strikeouts in eight starts, with 10 in both his major league debut at Miami on March 30 and against Colorado on May 4.

“Definitely started out, kind of took baseball by storm with what his stuff was and then had to make some adjustments as all rookies do,” Shelton said. “The fact that he’s made those adjustments, he’s shown the ability to change his pitch mix, he’s shown the ability to handle different game situations — we can’t teach those and we definitely can’t teach them at any level because it’s so much different at the major- league level, but I think he’s really done a nice job.”

The 22-year-old Jones also ranks second on the Pirates in innings pitched, with 91. He hasn’t pitched more than 126 1/3 in a season since being drafted in the second round in 2020 out of La Mirada (Calif.) High School, so the Pirates have been careful in their attempting to manage the workload of both Jones and fellow rookie sensation Paul Skenes.

The Pirates raised eyebrows by putting Jones on pitch and innings counts and even skipping a start. Despite throwing 50 of his 59 pitches for strikes, he was pulled after five scoreless innings against the New York Mets on April 16 — a game the Pirates ended up losing, 3-1. The Pirates also gave Jones an extra day between starts, having him pitch on five or six days of rest instead of the traditional four. Then they skipped his spot in the rotation after he pitched June 22 against Tampa Bay, having him throw a live batting practice while going 10 days between starts.

“It’s two things: It’s rust and then intensity,” Shelton said. “You can throw a bullpen but it’s a different intensity when there’s a hitter standing in there, so we just wanted to make sure that we maintained the intensity.”

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said late last month that communication and being proactive are keys to keeping the starting pitchers healthy. That’s been a focus for the Pirates, especially after losing right-handed starters JT Brubaker and Johan Oviedo to Tommy John surgery last year and having veteran lefties Marco Gonzales and Martin Perez and rookie righty Quinn Priester spend time on the injured list this season.

“Continuing to look at how they’re doing, how they’re recovering, how they’re trending and the communication with our group and the pitchers themselves,” Cherington said. “And it’s not just Paul and Jared, it’s the entire pitching staff. We think about needing guys to be at their best over the course of the season as much as possible to help us win games. It’s a balance and, as I’ve said before, we don’t have a perfect formula for it.

“We try to continue to be thoughtful and reasonable about what we’re asking them to do. We just know that history says that when you see the really extreme jumps — whether it’s short term and you see the really extreme jumps week to week in somebody’s pitch count — we know that’s not always the best thing to do, which is why you see the slower progressions. Likewise, year to year, when we see extreme jumps, there’s some history that says that’s not the greatest idea. It’s just something we’ll continue to manage and communicate with our pitchers directly.”

Jones will miss at least one start before the All-Star break from July 15-18. How long he’s out could depend on the severity of his strain, though the three other starters who spent time on the IL this season all missed at least a month in the majors.

Priester, who went on the injured list June 6 with a right lat strain, has made a pair of starts at Triple-A Indianapolis on a rehabilitation assignment, throwing 57 pitches over four innings June 27 and 70 pitches over five innings Tuesday.

Perez missed a month with a left groin strain, then made a rehab start at Indianapolis before returning to the rotation June 28 at Atlanta. He allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings against the Cardinals on Thursday, his second-longest outing of the season.

“Nobody wants to get hurt,” Perez told TribLive. “You work all offseason to be strong enough to complete the whole season, but sometimes your body doesn’t react how you want it. There’s times when your body is going to talk to you, ‘I don’t feel good. Give me a chance to get better and come back.’” While losing Jones couldn’t come at a worse time for the Pirates (41-45), as they entered the weekend series against the New York Mets only three games out wildcard contention, their rotation is better prepared. They can add righty Luis Ortiz, who held the Cincinnati Reds to one run over six innings in his first start of the season, to a starting rotation that features Keller, Skenes, Perez and lefty Bailey Falter.

“It’s not ideal, especially with someone like Jared,” Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds said. “But in the big leagues, it’s next man up. Injuries happen. We’ve got to roll with it.”

Jones’ injury is disruptive to the Pirates’ attempts to use their starters once every five or six days, unless Priester is ready to return from his rehab assignment or they elect to use a reliever as an opener again. Carmen Mlodzinski has three starts and Josh Fleming two in that role, with Ortiz pitching in bulk relief.

“I think if we’re going to keep anybody on a regular routine, it would be probably the veteran guys, just because they’ve done it,” Shelton said Wednesday. “Even in the minor leagues, with the day off, it’s not as commonplace for those guys to pitch on the traditional (four days of rest). But with all of our guys, we’re trying to find a day. If you go back and look, I think we’ve seen the results of trying to buy that extra day for all of them. It’s why (Ortiz) got the three bulk starts and a start, just to try to be able to create as much freshness as possible, because it is a long season.”