Top pitching prospect has won a spot on the Pirates Opening Day roster, the club announced to its beat writers this morning ( via Alex Stumpf of MLB.com). Hell likely slot into the teams rotation. The Bucs will select the contracts of Jones and of right-handers and ( via Stumpf). Pittsburgh will place catcher and infielder/outfielder on the 10-day injured list to begin the season. Relievers and will open the season on the 15-day IL. Also making the roster are out-of-options pitchers , and , as well as outfielder and righty . The Bucs will not carry non-roster invitees and on the roster to begin the season. Those arent the only key roster decisions Pittsburgh has faced this spring; that manager Derek Shelton last night called it a very safe a sumption that will be the Pirates starting second baseman to begin the season. Jones, 22, was the Pirates second-round pick back in 2020 and entered spring training ranked among the games top 100 prospects at each of Baseball America (No. 74), MLB.com (No. 62), The Athletic (No. 39), FanGraphs (No. 62) and ESPN (No. 53). Those rankings come on the heels of a strong 2023 season split between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, wherein Jones logged a combined 126 1/3 innings of 3.85 ERA ball with a 27.6% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate. The right-handers dominant spring showing surely didnt hurt his chances of making the Opening Day roster; Jones pitched 16 1/3 innings without an earned run during Grapefruit League play, yielding just nine hits against eight walks with 15 punchouts. that Jones has made huge gains with both his heater and his slider since being drafted and now has the potential for three plus pitches. The former two-way standout is an excellent athlete and, as noted , has also improved his strike-throwing as hes shifted his focus solely to pitching. Scouting reports on Jones generally agree that thered mid-rotation potential, and further improvements to any of his command, curveball or changeup could further boost his upside. Jones to sed 122 2/3 innings in 2022 and 126 1/3 innings last season. That should set the stage for a decent uptick in his workload this season. The Bucs might still be cautious with him on a start-by-start basis, particularly early in the year, but it wouldnt be a surprise if a healthy Jones approached or exceeded 150 frames this year. Since hes a consensus top-100 prospect whos making the Opening Day roster, his performance this season will particularly important for the Bucs. If Jones wins Rookie of the Year this season or finishes top three in National League Cy Young voting, he could net the Pirates Andre Drummond Jersey an extra pick in the 2025 draft under the 2022-26 CBAs newly implemented prospect promotion incentives. Triolo, 26, made his big league debut in 2023 and spent the bulk of his time at third base, filling in for an injured . Thats Triolos natural position, but Hayes is one of MLBs best defensive players at any position, so Triolo will slide over to second base in what could be his first full big league season. The writing for him winning the second base job was on the wall after the Bucs optioned and particularly with Bae also banged up (and now headed to the injured list). In 209 plate appearances last season, Triolo batted .298/.388/.398 production that was buoyed by an enormous .440 average on balls in play and came in spite of a grisly 30.1% strikeout rate. The punchouts and good fortune on balls in play have both continued this spring. Triolo has taken 45 plate appearances and batted .325/.400/.525 excellent surface-level numbers that are propped up by a more suspect .458 BABIP. Couple that with a 31.1% strikeout rate, and his production looks similar to his 2023 output though this years pair of homers in his limited spring playing time is a good sign, as Triolo hit just three long balls in last years 209 trips to the plate. Triolo is a strong defender who draws plenty of walks, which should help set a decent floor for him, but hell need to cut down on the strikeouts and/or significantly improve his quality of contact (86.6 mph average exit velocity; 32.8% hard-hit rate) if hes to sustain much in the way of succe s at the plate in the majors. Strikeouts were an i sue in his first taste of Triple-A work last year (26.5%) but werent a problem for him in the lower and mid-minor league levels, so perhaps hell drop that rate over a larger sample as he gains more experience. If nothing else, a plus defender at multiple positions with a keen eye at the plate has the makings of a useful utility option, but Triolo will get the opportunity to show he can be more than that right out of the gate in 2024. The 27-year-old Stratton made his MLB debut with the Bucs in 2023 and pitched 12 innings with three runs on nine hits and three walks. He fanned 10 of his 47 opponents (21.3%) and kept the ball on the ground at a hearty 51.5% rate. He was non-tendered in November but returned on a minors deal two months later. Stratton will now get a second big league look after firing seven shutout frames with a 7-to-2 K/BB ratio this spring. Ryan, 29 in May, pitched a scorele s frame with the Mariners in 2023. That represents the entirety of his MLB experience. Hes fanned 28.6% of his opponents in 7 2/3 innings for Pittsburgh this spring and done so with a staggering 73.7% ground-ball rate. Ryan has pitched to a sub-4.00 ERA with a strikeout rate north of 24% in each of the past two Triple-A seasons (one with the Mariners and one with the Rangers). The Pirates will give him his first real look in the majors to see if he can carry any of that succe s over to the games top level. Alfonzo McKinnie Jersey