Pirates' Jared Jones's Hilarious Response to Paul Skenes Question
Paul Skenes and Jared Jones have dazzled for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their rookie seasons, giving fans reason for optimism heading into next season and beyond.
While they may be tied to the hip for the foreseeable future on the Pirates, Jones isn't sure if that'll extend to the offseason. After making his final start of the 2024 season, Jones was asked by SportsNet Pittsburgh's Hannah Mears about spending time during the offseason to pick up on Skenes' patented splinker. While Jones wasn't completely against the idea, he also noted the amount of time they had already spent together this season.
"Maybe," Jones quipped. "Depends how much I'm around him. I've been around him for seven months now. I'm getting sick of him."
Jones turned in a solid outing in the Pirates' 4-2 win over the New York Yankees on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. The rookie right-hander pitched 4.1 innings, allowed five hits, two walks, two earned runs and struck out seven batters en route to earning a no-decision. Jones exited the game with the bases loaded and one out and exited after throwing 85 pitches and had the type of response one would expect from a pitcher who wants to work out of the jam they got themselves into.
With Friday's outing in the books, Jones' rookie season has concluded. Jones finished the year 6-8 with a 4.14 ERA and struck out 132 batters over 121.2 innings pitched. The rookie right-hander could have had a shot to break the Pirates record for strikeouts by a rookie if a strained right lat didn't force him to miss nearly two months.
Regardless of whether Jones and Skenes spend the bulk of the offseason together, their rookie seasons give the Pirates plenty of reason for optimism atop their starting rotation for years to come. If they can build on what was a strong first season for both pitchers, Pittsburgh has a shot to have one of the best one-two punches in baseball.
Pittsburgh (75-85) will look to earn the series win on Saturday with Skenes on the mound when it faces the Yankees (93-67) at 1:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium.
