Quinn Priester looks to take advantage of opportunity
With open spot in Pirates rotation, Priester will look to take advantage of latest chance in the majors.
After seeing his first full year in Triple-A last season and getting a taste of the big leagues to the tune of 50 innings, Quinn Priester now has the taste of baseball’s highest level.
He entered this season with just one goal to prove he should be back.
“I just have to get better and get back to the big leagues,” Priester said.
With Marco Gonzales hitting the injured list, Priester will get the opportunity to do just that as Friday night’s starter for the Pirates against the Red Sox.
Prior to the promotion, in three starts with Indianapolis, Priester had allowed 12 hits and six runs over 13.2 innings. While he had walked five, he had struck out 20. While it is a small sample size, that’s the highest strikeout rate of Priester’s career.
Additionally, Alex Stumpf of MLB.com posted on X about the early success of Priester’s fastball and showcased better location and much improved outcomes.
While the results on the field are showing, much of the prep work is done from November to March. For Priester, it was to continue to tap into a strength.
“I just wanted to stay athletic,” Priester said. “I was trying to build off my athleticism and just keep throwing the ball hard.”
When asked about specifics he was working on during the off-season, he declined anything individually but just trying to get everything better.
Time will tell if the early sample size will play out to improved results in Pittsburgh. Regardless, he is certainly looking to take advantage of an early opportunity.
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It wouldn't shock me if Priester pitched a great game or a really bad game. Anything in the middle, might surpise me a little.
Hoping QP can put it together for us. I am not the most optimistic, but would absolutely love if he proved me wrong. I think he's getting a little bit of a short handed redsox lineup, so hopefully that helps some