Jared Jones is one of the many young flamethrowers in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rotation. After a promising 2024 rookie season, Jones missed all of 2025 after undergoing internal brace surgery early in the year. However, after missing over a year, Jones is now back in action and looking even better than he did during his rookie campaign. With how good he has looked since coming off the injured list, he is starting a serious bid for the National League Comeback Player of the Year award.
Jones has pitched 46 innings since returning to the Major Leagues. In that time, he owns a 3.72 ERA with a 3.35 FIP and 1.02 WHIP. Jones is inducing strikeouts nearly 30% of the time with a 28.8% K%. He is in the 88th percentile of whiff rate at 31.2%. Jones also is not walking many opponents, with a 7.1% BB%. His 1.17 HR/9 ratio is about average, but his ground ball rate is up to 41.9%, compared to 38.7% in 2024, and has a 7.6% barrel rate, down from 9.8% in ‘24.
FIP isn’t the only underlying metric that likes Jones’ work so far. He also owns a 3.31 SIERA and 3.35 xFIP. The right-hander is in the 84th percentile of xERA at 3.13, and has held opposing hitters to a sub-.300 xwOBA at .275. For reference, Chris Sale (.277), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (.278), and Cristopher Sanchez (.283) both have higher xwOBA. Jones’ elbow surgery didn’t take anything away from his four-seam fastball. He is in the 96th percentile of fastball velo at 98.5 MPH, compared to 97.3 MPH in 2024.
Jones is far from alone in competition for the award. Atlanta Braves’ outfielder Michael Harris II had a sub-100 wRC+ in 2024 and 2025, but is now at 123 in 2026 with his usual outstanding center field defense. Miami Marlins’ ace Sandy Alcantara missed all of 2024 with Tommy John surgery, put up an ERA over 5.00 in 2025, but now has a 4.01 ERA while leading the league in innings pitched. Arizona Diamondbacks’ veteran lefty Eduardo Rodriguez currently has nearly +4.0 bWAR in 20 starts with a sub-3.00 ERA this season. His ERA over 2024 and 2025 was 5.02. Luis Arraez was about a league-average hitter the last two years with the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres. However, he is now putting up his best OPS of .805 with the San Francisco Giants since his outstanding 2023 season, and has made significant strides on the defensive side of the ball.
The last Pirates player to win comeback player of the year also set a high bar for Jones. Francisco Liriano in 2013 is the most recent Pirates player to take the award home. Liriano was a key member of the Pirates in ‘13. He had a 3.02 ERA in 161 innings pitched, and started the Pirates’ Wild Card game.
However, one thing that all these players didn’t do last year is miss the entire season. Jones is having this good of a rebound after missing all of last year. Harris II, Alcantara, Rodriguez, and Arraez were all healthy for the better part of 2025. Jones was still recovering from surgery while they were all playing regularly.
Jones has become a key member of the Pirates once again. He has looked nothing short of outstanding since coming off the IL. It’s even more impressive once you consider how much time he missed before his recent performance. With how well he has looked and after overcoming so much, he could be a serious candidate for NL Comeback Player Of The Year in 2026.
