Pittsburgh Pirates News: Quinn Priester Added to Altoona Roster

The Pittsburgh Pirates have added one of their top pitching prospects to their 60 man roster.  This is a good move by the organization.

At the beginning of the “new” 2020 Major League Baseball season, teams were given an opportunity to add a lot of their top prospects to the 60 man player pool.  While 28 players would report to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the other 32 would be working out at an alternate location, which for the Bucs is in Altoona.  Most teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, added the top prospects from the upper minors, but not so much from the lower levels.

The Bucs have decided to add one of their top and youngest pitching prospects.  According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Pittsburgh Pirates added second year pitcher Quinn Priester to their 60 man player pool, and he will be sent to work out in Altoona.  This is great news for the development of the 2019 first round selection.

“The Pirates added 2019 first-rounder Quinn Priester to their player pool earlier this week, MLBTR has learned. The Illinois native was selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2019 draft and logged 36 2/3 innings between Rookie ball and short-season Class-A last year.”

Priester was the top high school pitcher off the board in 2019 and showed why.  In his 36.2 innings of work, the 6’3” right-handed starter threw to a 3.19 ERA while averaging 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings, striking out 41 ind 35 innings.  Furthermore, his fastball consistently sat in the mid 90s to go along with three potential plus pitches.

Priester is still a ways away from joining the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He will get his first taste of full season baseball in 2021.  Still, it is great to see the Bucs trying to get him some work.  A whole year off for a second year pitcher can really stunt their development.  While it was important early in the year to focus on some of the older and upper level players (especially for a new regime), now is the time to really start worrying about 2021 and beyond.  Adding Priester to Altoona is exactly where he needs to be.