Pittsburgh Pirates: A Look at Draft Prospect Quinn Priester

The Major League Baseball Draft takes place in just over two days on Monday night.  Here is a prospect that the Pittsburgh Pirates could take with their pick.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will have the 18th overall pick in the MLB Draft this year.  The Draft will take place in a just a few days and the Pittsburgh Pirates hope to bring in their next franchise player. The Bucs have a total of four picks on night one of the Draft, having a good opportunity to restock the farm system.

If there is one thing for certain it’s that the Pittsburgh Pirates will draft plenty big and projectable right-handed pitchers.  This has always been the Bucs way.  While a lot of teams take a mix of prospects, the Bucs always use a large percentage of their picks on right-handers.  So could the team be looking for a right-hander with their first round pick?

Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline put out updated mock drafts last night.  These two sites are the main sites that cover the Draft and do an excellent job of it.  MLB Pipeline actually covers the draft on TV with Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis.  Back in 2017, they projected the Bucs to take Shane Baz in their mock draft and they were correct.   So who do they have the Bucs taking this year?

Well, Jim Callis has the Pittsburgh Pirates taking right-handed pitcher Quinn Priester.  What is interesting is that in Baseball America’s most recent mock draft they also have the Pittsburgh Pirates drafting Quinn Priester.  Priester stands at 6-3 and weighs about 200 pounds.  The big righty is committed to Texas Christian University.  Here is some of the scouting report from MLB Pipeline:

“Scouts love Priester’s athleticism and the ease of his arm action. His four-seam fastball can reach 97 mph with riding life, though his heavy two-seamer in the low 90s may be even more effective because it gets exceptional horizontal and vertical movement. He also owns one of the better curveballs in the 2019 prep class, sitting around 80 mph with tight spin and good depth.”

Priester sounds like the prototypical right-handed pitcher that the Pittsburgh Pirates look for in a pitching prospect.  He has a power fastball and a plus breaking pitch.  He also throws a changeup, however it needs work.  The main point of interest for the Bucs would be his two-seam fastball, something the Pirates like all their pitchers to throw.  The fact that he already has one that is considered to be effective definitely is a point of interest for the team.

Both major sites that cover, scout, and have sources think that the Bucs will take Priester.  FanGraphs also has the team taking Priester in their most recent updated mock.  Is this similar to when they predicted the Pirates would take Baz?  Maybe, or maybe they are just connecting dots.  The team is picking at number 18 so it is a kind of hard to project who they will take.  No one knows what prospects might end up sliding down, which will change the draft completely.