doesn’t seem that great either

Before last night, I’d never seen him or his stuff before. I was impressed with all three of his pitches, but I’ve only seen him throw against 1 team, 1 time through the order. Hard to judge anything by such a small sample size. I gave both off-speed pitches conservative grades of 55 which translates to ‘slightly above major league average’. After a few more looks, I’ll have a better idea of how his stuff will play at the next level(s).

(1) He looked pretty smooth to me. He’s got a bit of a “drop and drive” thing going, so when he wants to really hurl a ball in there, he tends to drop a little too much. As long as he’s consistent with his mechanics, there’s no reason his control or command should fade or revert.

That said, he struggled in very small bursts. I mentioned it briefly in the post, but twice he opened up 3-0 on hitters. He threw lots of strikes, and despite those two ABs, he didn’t walk anyone. He’s definitely fun to watch, even if bats don’t always going flying into camera wells.

(2) There’s a chance it was endurance related. Typically, the swing-man type of pitcher (starter-slash-reliever) eases off just a bit when he starts a game versus when he relieves (setting a pace versus sprinting). With his drop-and-drive style, his legs might have been getting tired after a few innings, or he might have been easing up too much and making his pitches a little too hittable the second time through the order. This is all conjecture, just possible explanations.

(3) He came in with the bases loaded, uncorked a wild pitch (all three runners advanced), then retired two guys on a K and a ground out. His second inning featured a ground ball double past Adam Fox at third with 1 out, then retired the next two without much issue. No one reached in his third inning. Since I only saw him from the stretch against those two hitters in his second inning, I can’t say I saw enough of a difference that I worry about it.

(1) Your team really, really needs bullpen help and has an extra starter laying around.
(2) The guy just can’t hack it in a rotation.

While ultimately, the first reason might wind up being what pushes a guy like Jones to the bullpen, he certainly doesn’t have enough of a track record of failure in the rotation to warrant a permanent move there.

Your concerns are noted, but for most pitchers, that really isn’t a big deal. Furthermore, we don’t know exactly what Adair and the organization have planned for Jones. For all we know, Jones might already be ticketed for a Frisco rotation spot next season, and he might already know that’s what he’s working toward. You shouldn’t assume that he’s being jerked around just because it looks like he’s being jerked around.