UPDATE: From the Pirates:
Jared Jones underwent right elbow surgery performed today in Dallas, Texas, by Dr. Keith Meister. The procedure performed was a repair to the UCL. A projected return to full competition is 10-12 months.
PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s been rumored since he was first shutdown during spring training, then after some hope, it became official on Wednesday. Pirates second-year starter Jared Jones had right elbow, forearm complex surgery Wednesday.
Pirates Director of Sports Medicine Todd Tomczyk would not confirm the length of time Jones will miss other than the rest of this season. Tomczyk said they will have more details after the surgery is confirmed. He said out of fairness to the process and to Jones, they wouldn’t say if it was Tommy John surgery or not.
Tomczyk said after going through rehab steps the last couple of months, late last week Jones was throwing out to 100 feet and the elbow didn’t feel good. Tomczyk said they then pivoted from the rehab and consulted Dr. Keith Meister, who performed the surgery.
There have been a lot of questions about why not have the surgery sooner? Tomczyk explained in early March they went through all of the options with Jared Jones.
“The second most critical component of this is the psychological component of this,” Tomczyk said. “When a professional athlete is committed to a process whether it’s surgery or a new plan, they have to have that in the front of their minds that this is the best decision. At that point, Jared wasn’t ready for that. We didn’t think, all of us, that it was the right step.”
“What we learned, and Jared shared with us (Tuesday), that he can no longer build back into competition without proceeding with surgery.”
Some of the optimism for this season was getting Jones back to start every game. He struck out 10 in his first start and in five more starts in April struck out 32 more with a 2.86 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. The 23-year-old righty, and good friend of Paul Skenes, finished his rookie season in 2024 6-8, 4.14 ERA, 22 starts, 121.2 innings, 39 walks, 132 strikeouts, 1.19 WHIP.
“Jared feels terrible,” Tomczyk said. “He feels terrible because he’s not able to compete with his teammates the rest of the season.”