Pittsburgh Pirates: Quinn Priester Agrees to Terms

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished up the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft less than a week ago.  The team has already signed their top pick.

Last Monday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates had the 18th overall pick in the annual Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.  The Bucs had many different directions they could have went in with their pick, but the team decided to go with a prep pitcher.

The Bucs made Illinois high school right-hander Quinn Priester their first-round selection.  The team actually made Priester the top drafted prep arm in the 2019 Draft.  Here is a scouting report on Priester from MLB Pipeline:

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. Gatorade’s 2019 Illinois high school player of the year, he also owns one of the better curveballs in the 2019 prep class, sitting around 80 mph with tight spin and good depth.

The Bucs were happy to get a starting pitching prospect who projects to be a top of the rotation type arm.  He stands at 6’3” and weighs about 200 pounds.  Another thing that the Pittsburgh Pirates really liked about the Priester is his athleticism; the big righty was also a standout football player for his high school team.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced that they have agreed to terms with the potential front line starter.  This was announced by General Manager Neal Huntington and the organization before tonight’s game against the Atlanta Braves. The team also made the official announcement via Twitter.

The Bucs pick at number 18 overall is worth a bonus allotment value of $3,480,000.  The Bucs actually got him to sign for just below the slot value at $3,400,000. This came via Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline on Twitter.  So the team saved around $80,000 with the signing.  The Bucs will be able to take that saved money and use it toward other picks who may require an over-slot deal.

This is good news.  Priester was committed to Texas Christian University.  His commitment was never really considered strong, but it is always hard to say for sure if a player will decide to go to college or not.  Just last year, the Bucs were optimistic about signing their Competitive Balance first-round pick Gunnar Hoglund, but instead he ended up signing with Ole Miss.

Priester is obviously a big get for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He single handily can define the 2019 Draft class if he reaches his lofty ceiling of a front line starter.  Also, him getting less money than his slot value will help the team on some of their other high upside picks.