PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Pirates took another position player in the first round of the MLB Draft. The don’t have a real starting pitching option at AAA currently, other than a resting Roansy Contreras.
It’s not hopeless, know the last pitcher the Bucs took in the first round is starting to make a move.
Taken 18th overall out of an Illinois high school in 2019, Quinn Priester has been on a bit of a roll after starting his season late due to an oblique injury. The 6’3”, 210-pound right-hander threw 5.1 innings of scoreless, two-hit baseball on July 16 lowering his ERA to 2.11. Then on Sunday, a season-high eight strikeouts allowing no earned runs over six innings and the ERA is now 1.65.
It was hit sixth start this season at AA Altoona and in the 27.1 innings in 2022, 29 strikeouts, seven walks and no home runs allowed. In July he’s 1-1 in his three starts with a 1.33 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. For a Pirates club in need of pitching help in the majors, you would think at least an opportunity in AAA is imminent and then who knows.
“Everybody wants to be at the big-league level, but I’m confident if I keep doing what I’m doing,” Priester told 93.7 The Fan. “Keep working the way I’m working; good things are going to happen. That will take care of itself. I want to enjoy being where I’m at, doing as well as I can and having fun with where I’m at.”
He had fun in June while making a rehab start. He combined with another important prospect, Anthony Solometo, on a no-hitter for Class A Bradenton. The game caught by 2021 first-round pick Henry Davis as he worked back from a broken wrist. The 22nd ranked right-handed pitching prospect in all of minor league baseball by Baseball America believes some work during his recovery set the stage for his recent success.
“I speed up to slow down,” Priester said. “It helps me with what I need to do—everything feels like one motion instead of multiple moving parts.”
“It literally wasn’t a big change. It feels like I’m doing the same things, just moving a little bit faster through the motion which is keeping everything in rhythm. It’s taking a lot of stress and dragging off the arm and oblique and I think I’m throwing better. Everything that we wanted to have happen it’s happened, now it’s just refining that and getting more reps.”
The hard-throwing righty was coming off a big year in High A with a 3.04 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 20 starts. Then the injury happened on the last day of Spring Training, but says he’s improved his four-seam sinkers, the four-seam fastball is better at the top of the zone and the curve ball is now spinning in the low 80s instead of the high 70s. The slider is a work in progress as he continues to find consistency with all of his pitches.
“Definitely feel like I’m throwing a lot more strikes and that’s helped me throw more strikes,” Priester told 93.7 The Fan. “It sounds dumb, but the more strikes I throw the more confident I am in the zone. I’m trying to compete with everything in the zone. Until we go 0-2, I’m trying to land strikes and compete and let guys put balls in play early. I feel like I’m going to win a lot of those counts.”
“Feeling really good, pitching with a lot of confidence. I need to keep that going.”
He’s really not consumed with getting to the majors immediately. It might be hard to believe that, but he really means it. He doesn’t stress about being promoted.
“I just love playing,” Priester said. “If I’m having success playing, I will have fun regardless. If I’m doing what I need to and getting better every day. I’m going to enjoy coming to this field.”
Some of that confidence he feels this year comes from what he’s seeing in the system and guys that are getting opportunities in the majors.
“Excited about the team we have here and the team we could have (in Pittsburgh),” Priester told 93.7 The Fan. “We have so many different guys that I look at every day and go holy cow, that’s a big leaguer. That’s a big leaguer. That’s a big leaguer. Then it’s like, wait there are only nine starting spots. I don’t know what is going to happen, but it’s going to be good.”