How prospect helped Jones enhance his fastball

This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf’s Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PITTSBURGH -- Considering how Jared Jones has burst onto the scene in 2024, just about everyone who has watched him has had that eye-opening moment when they realized how special the rookie right-hander is. Sure, you could check the box score or see how he’s holding his own against some of the best rookies in the Senior Circuit, but it is almost one of those cases where you need to see it to believe it.

For Derek Shelton, that moment was a Spring Training game he didn’t even manage. It was a split-squad day, and Jones was on the road taking on the Braves in North Port, Fla. The Braves didn’t let up with their lineup, playing most of their starters, but Jones’ fastball played and he tossed a scoreless outing.

“With that one, against that lineup, that was like, ‘Whoa, this is a little bit different,’” Shelton said.

Needless to say, that fastball has played very well at the Major League level. Entering Saturday, he’s recorded a .200 batting average against and a 34.1% whiff rate with his four-seamer, the latter of which is the third-best rate of any pitcher with at least 50 at-bats ending with that pitch. Going by run value, the only Pirate pitches that have been more valuable are Bailey Falter’s four-seamer, Martín Pérez’s sinker and Jones’ slider.

It’s always been a promising pitch, flashing high-90s velocity ever since he was in high school. The difference is he’s getting more movement on it this year, and he can thank a fellow Pirate prospect for that.

Jones has not been teammates with Thomas Harrington yet; Harrington, the Pirates’ No. 6 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was drafted in 2022. But the two quickly bonded over online gaming and Fortnite. They became fast friends and spent plenty of time together in Bradenton, Fla., over the winter, where they started to pick each other’s brains on pitching. Jones knew how much ride Harrington got on his fastball, and he wanted to know how.

“I just threw [with] my fingers close together,” Jones said. “Obviously I threw hard, but it wasn’t ridiculously ripped vertically.”

Those talks led to a change in how he held the ball, grabbing it a bit more like a splitter with a wider grip. When he first started to throw it in those early bullpen sessions in January, he knew he was going to move forward with the changed grip.

With Triple-A Indianapolis last year, Jones averaged 16 inches of vertical movement without factoring in gravity. This year, he is averaging 18 inches of vertical movement, and he started to max out at 21 inches of movement even back in January.

“All right, this’ll play,” Jones thought to himself that first bullpen session.

Going by Baseball Savant’s data, Jones now gets 2.1 more inches of vertical ride compared to the average four-seam fastball. His fastball was never flat, but it’s now a plus pitch for more reasons than just its velocity and spin.

“I think he is weaponizing it right now, just in terms of the location that he’s throwing his fastball,” Shelton said. “When you have the ability to execute at that high of a velocity, it’s definitely a weapon. I think we’re starting to see him use [it] in different parts of the at-bat, too, which is cool to see.”

Shelton didn’t offer specifics for what’s different, but Jones opted to throw his fastball at least 50% of the time in two-strike counts in two of his last three outings. His putaway percentage -- or the rate of two-strike pitches that result in a strikeout -- with the four-seamer is 27.9%, the fifth-best among pitchers in the Major Leagues (min. 50 PA).

With that spin and the illusion of rise, that fastball generally plays best up in the zone, either as a whiff pitch or an offering to set up his slider. He’ll mix in his curveball and changeup too, but those offerings are his real bread and butter.

And he’s going to keep attacking with that new fastball.

“I think it’s the same thing: Just throwing it in the zone and daring them to hit it,” Jones said. “That’s how I’ve been. That’s how I’ll be going forward.”