The Pirates positioned right-hander Jared Jones on the 15-day injured checklist on Thursday, and supervisor Derek Shelton gave the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette’s Andrew Destin and different reporters some particulars on the lat pressure that has put the star rookie on the shelf for the foreseeable future. Jones suffered a Grade 2 pressure and isn’t prone to throw for the subsequent two weeks, so the crew can enable him to relaxation and get well earlier than checking on his progress. If all goes properly and Jones is ready to restart a throwing program at the moment, Jones may very well be on observe to return maybe by early August, primarily based on previous timelines for different pitchers who’ve suffered related accidents.
It wouldn’t be stunning to see Jones get a bit extra restoration time, each as a precautionary measure given his significance to the Pirates’ future, and since the crew was already taking steps to handle the workloads of each Jones and Paul Skenes of their mutual. Solely two of Jones’ 16 begins have come on the usual 4 days of relaxation, because the Bucs have used a six-man rotation for almost all of the season. Jones threw a career-high 126 1/3 innings mixed between Double-A and Triple-A ball in 2023, and he’s as much as 91 innings within the huge leagues this yr.
Jones’ final begin on July 3 got here after an 11-day break, as he had a flip within the rotation skipped with a view to assist preserve him recent. Shelton didn’t suppose the layoff performed a task in Jones’ harm, because the Pirates nonetheless had Jones participate in a dwell bullpen session (“We did ramp his depth up, we nonetheless did make certain he threw“) throughout his 11 days between begins, and as a substitute chalked the lat pressure up the vagaries of baseball.
Whereas it’s excellent news that Jones’ harm isn’t overly severe, lacking him for even a month is a success to Pittsburgh’s postseason hopes. The Pirates are 42-45 getting into immediately’s play however are nonetheless 4 video games out of a wild card spot, so there may be time for the crew to nonetheless mount a run — or, if issues go south earlier than July 30, to discover promoting on the commerce deadline.
David Bednar’s standing is a key think about how the Pirates’ July may play out, and the nearer made progress in his harm restoration with a dwell batting apply session immediately. As per MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf (X hyperlink), Bednar confronted 5 batters over the course of 21 pitches, with Bednar utilizing his complete arsenal. A left indirect pressure despatched Bednar to the 15-day IL on June 20, and whereas he has already missed past the 15-day minimal, immediately’s throwing session is an effective signal that he may not be too distant from a minor league rehab task or perhaps a straight-ahead activation. The nearer has 16 saves and a considerably misleading 5.17 ERA over 31 1/3 innings this season, as Bednar has been lights-out following a tough April.
Talking of bullpen accidents, Pittsburgh referred to as right-hander Ryder Ryan up from Triple-A immediately after righty Daulton Jefferies was positioned on the 15-day IL. Jefferies is coping with discomfort in his proper elbow, and the harm comes slightly below two months after the Pirates claimed Jefferies off waivers from the Giants.
Jefferies has a 9.82 ERA break up between 10 innings for Pittsburgh (6.30 ERA) and 4 2/3 frames with San Francisco (17.36 ERA), and each golf equipment have optioned him forwards and backwards from Triple-A on a number of events. This marked Jefferies’ return to huge league motion after lacking all of 2023 recovering from each a thoracic outlet syndrome surgical procedure after which a Tommy John surgical procedure inside a six-month span in 2022. Contemplating that Jefferies additionally had one other TJ process earlier in his profession, it isn’t signal that he’s experiencing one other bout of elbow soreness.
