Quinn Priester shines in Triple-A Debut

Sep 22, 2022 - 11:40 PM

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As the regular season comes to a close, the Pittsburgh Pirates rank near the bottom of the power rankings as they currently hold an abysmal 55-94 record. Many fans are already looking towards next season and some hopefully brighter days out of the Buccos. While there’s clouds over Pittsburgh, a ray of light beamed over Indianapolis last night as pitcher Quinn Priester shined in his Triple A debut.

Priester was assigned to the Indians earlier in the week and excelled on Wednesday against St Paul. Through five innings, Priester tossed a shutout and tallied six strikeouts, en route to a 7-1 victory over the Saints. 47 of his 71 pitches were strikes.

The Pirates’ first round draft pick from 2019 has developed very fast since coming into the Minor Leagues. His first full season had its highs and lows, but Priester was still selected to the Futures Game, and continued to show improvement as he led the High-A East in ERA. Priester would then shine in Greensboro before eventually being assigned to Altoona and getting consistent Double-A playing time following an oblique injury that had him sidelined after training camp.

Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images

At the Major League level, the Pirates’ bullpen has been anything but inspiring. Pittsburgh’s pitching rotation ranks 27th in the league, yielding a poor 4.74 ERA with opposing batters averaging 2.61 against Pirates’ pitchers. It’s not hard to see that a little juice would be beneficial in the Bucs’ rotation.

Quinn Priester currently ranks 46th on the MLB’s Top 100 Prospects list and for good reason. It’s a good sign seeing his development through injury and a COVID year paying off in moving up to Triple-A to round out the season. Priester’s athleticism on the mound is an asset that Pittsburgh is lucky to have in their system, as he further fine tunes his pitching mechanics and stamina to throw a whole game.

Priester is projected to be assigned to Pittsburgh in 2023, and after a strong showing in Indy, it could only be a matter of time until he’s in the Pirates rotation.