Pirates Notes: Jones, Harbin, Brannigan, Simón

Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided some injury updates to reporters, including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Perhaps most notably, right-hander Jared Jones is doing well in his rehab and the club is trying to have him ready at the one-year mark of his surgery.

Jones underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow on May 21st of 2025. It was not a full Tommy John surgery, as the club announced it as a UCL repair, rather than a replacement. They also listed the estimated return timeline as 10 to 12 months, shorter than that of TJS.

When the Bucs signed José Urquidy a couple of weeks ago, they put Jones on the 60-day injured list. That clock doesn’t start until the season opens, so Jones won’t be eligible for reinstatement until late May, but it seems the Pirates are hoping that he can be healthy enough to be activated as soon as the 60 days are up.

That would be a great development for the Pirates if all goes according to plan. Jones had an exciting debut in 2024, posting a 4.14 earned run average in 121 2/3 innings. He struck out 26.2% of batters faced while only giving out walks 7.7% of the time. Pittsburgh goes into the season with Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller in two rotation spots. They should be followed by some combination of Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler, Urquidy, Hunter Barco and Thomas Harrington.

Ideally, Jones can get healthy by late May and jump into that group. Who gets bumped out will naturally depend on who is healthy and performing well in the interim. Skenes is optionable but obviously isn’t getting sent down. Keller and Urquidy can’t be optioned to the minors without consent since each has at least five years of service time, though Urquidy consented to being optioned with the Tigers last year. Everyone else in the mix is optionable.

Turning to the bullpen, Ryan Harbin won’t be in the mix for the Opening Day roster. He has a teres major injury and won’t throw for the next six weeks, at which point he will undergo further imaging. Whenever he is declared healthy, he will have to ramp back up to game readiness.

Harbin was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November. He has a full slate of options and his upper level minor league experience is still limited, with just 14 appearances at both Double-A and Triple-A. He was probably a long shot to earn an Opening Day roster spot but he will be in the mix for an up-and-down bullpen depth job this year. That will be on pause until he gets healthy. Even once cleared, he will probably have to show some improved command. He struck out 31.9% of batters faced in the minors last year but gave out walks at a massive 16% clip.

Infielder Jack Brannigan got hit in the nose with a ground ball recently and sustained multiple injuries to the area. His timeline is still being determined. He is on the 40-man roster but wasn’t likely to factor into the Opening Day roster as he still has no Triple-A experience. He should be ticketed for a depth role this year, so there shouldn’t be a strong need to rush through this current setback.

There was also an update on non-roster infielder/outfielder Ronny Simón. He underwent shoulder surgery about four months ago and should get into games in late March or early April. He suffered a dislocated left shoulder in August and finished last year on the IL. He was non-tendered in November and then re-signed to a minor league deal. He’ll have to get healthy and then embark on a delayed spring ramp-up before factoring into the club’s position player depth. He hasn’t hit much in the majors yet but slashed .297/.392/.452 on the farm last year while stealing 28 bases in just 69 games and bouncing around to multiple positions.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images