Special to Sports News Highlights

(SNH) — Pittsburgh Pirates rookie starting pitcher Jared Jones has exploded on to the scene as one of the best pitchers in the sport.

In seven starts, Jones has a 2.63 ERA with 52 strikeouts opposed to just five walks. He became the 17th pitcher since 1901 to record 50 or more strikeouts in his first seven outings and he is the first out of all of them to do it while allowing five walks or fewer.

Jones continues to break records almost every time he toes the rubber. The other day was no different.

Jones became the first pitcher in Pirates history to record an outing of seven shutout innings with one or fewer hits allowed, 10 strikeouts and no walks. He also passed Stephen Strasburg for most ever starts with seven or more strikeouts and no walks through a pitcher’s first seven career games.

Jones’ 122 swing and misses this season are the most by a pitcher through their first seven starts dating back to 2008. He also ranks top 10 in MLB history in strikeouts through a pitcher’s first seven career starts.

The list goes on.

Jones has skyrocketed to second place in National League Rookie of the Year odds just behind Shota Imanaga of the Cubs. The rookie was a top-100 prospect entering the season, but nobody could have expected this from Jones.

“With him, if you don’t go seven innings or more, it’s not a good outing,” Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal said postgame. “That’s how highly I think of him.”

Jones is already looking like an All-Star caliber pitcher at just 22 years old and spearheads a strong pitching staff with the Pirates ranking just outside the Top 10 in ERA at 3.66 heading into Sunday’s game against the Rockies.

The Pirates also have the best pitching prospect in baseball on the way in Paul Skenes, who could be making his last start with the Triple A Indianapolis Indians on Sunday.

Skenes has a 0.39 ERA in 23 innings with the Pirates Triple-A affiliate and doesn’t have much left to prove at the minor league levels. He has a career 1.52 ERA dating back to last season and seems poised to make the jump to the big-league club soon. Skenes has thrown 118 strikes clocked at 99 miles per hour or higher in 2024 – good for 67 more strikes than Hunter Greene who is in second place among all MLB and AAA starters.

Skenes – the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft – is touted by many as one of the best pitching prospects of all time, if not the best.

If Sunday is indeed his last start for the Indians, that lines him up to make his Major League debut at home against the Cubs this Friday on May 10.

Baseball America currently ranks Skenes (No. 6 overall) and Jones (No. 8 overall) as the two best pitching prospects in the sport.

The duo at the top of the Pirates rotation for the foreseeable future gives fans reason for optimism moving forward.