2. Jared Jones, Pittsburgh Pirates
While his rookie year numbers don't jump off the page by any means, Jared Jones burst on to the scene as one of the most electric young arms in baseball and gave us some glimpses of what he is capable of as a big league pitcher.
Unfortunately for Jones, if he's going to win a Cy Young in the near future, he's going to have to out-pitch his teammate Paul Skenes — a heavy favorite for this year's award.
While Skenes certainly overshadows Jones in Pittsburgh's rotation, Jones really isn't as far from Skenes as you would think. Jones posted a pedestrian 4.14 ERA and 4.00 FIP over 121.1 innings last year, but if you dive deeper into his profile, you'll see why he has the makings of an elite pitcher in today's game.
It all starts with the fastball for Jones. He averaged 97.3 mph on the offering in 2024, which ranked third among starting pitchers, only behind Skenes and Hunter Greene. He also produces a lot of extension with his delivery, which only makes the fastball better. While it was hit around a bit, the .438 xSLG and .338 xwOBA on the pitch were both actually league-average, and he produced a well above-average 25.8 whiff% on the offering. The fastball is his bread and butter, and will only get better with improved command.
Jones's slider is his go-to secondary, and is one of the better sliders in baseball. Just like his fastball, his slider is one of the hardest thrown sliders, coming in ranked fifth among starters at 88.8 mph. It's his most successful pitch as it had 7.4 runs above average in 2024, which ranked 12th among big league sliders.
Jared Jones has the 2nd most strikeouts in MLB this Spring (17) pic.twitter.com/KcHdJIYNY0
— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) March 14, 2025
It's another offering that returns a well above-average whiff% at 37.3 and also produces below-average batted ball metrics. He comfortably uses it against right-handed and left-handed hitters, both in and out of the strike zone.
An improved changeup would really complete his arsenal (and allow him to attack lefty hitters more aggressively), which I believe could turn him into one of the premier pitchers in baseball. Heading into his sophomore season in the big leagues, I expect Jones to make the necessary adjustments to take the next step forward, and if everything clicks, Jones certainly can surprise baseball fans in 2025.