Pittsburgh Pirates: Quinn Priester Looking to Continue Strong June

The Pittsburgh Pirates top pitching prospect had a really strong month of June.  He will look to continue into July starting tonight.

The Pittsburgh Pirates top pitching prospect, Quinn Priester shot up prospect rankings this past off-season. He went from a borderline top 100 prospect all the way to a consensus top 60 prospect. The 2019 first-round pick has put up solid, albeit unimpressive numbers considering his large jump in rankings. With that being said it is all about the projectability he possesses.  The big right-hander already has a fastball that can consistently hit the upper 90s.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were aggressive with their placement of Priester for the 2021 season.  They started him at High-A Greensboro, making him the youngest starter on the team’s staff. He had a bit of a rough start to the year but has really put together an outstanding first season.

Through 38 innings, he has a 3.32 ERA, 4.61 FIP, and 1.421 WHIP. Priester only has a 22.3% strikeout rate to opposing a 9% walk rate. He’s seen a spike in home runs as his HR/9 sits at 1.18.  The bulk of his ERA is made up of just a few starts. In his first two starts of the year, he made it through a combined 7 innings and gave up 6 earned runs between the starts.  Also, in his first outing of June, he was tapped for 5 earned runs in 4 innings of work.  Comparatively, he has 6 starts where he has given up 1 or fewer earned runs.

However, you have to remember this is still a small sample size of just 38 innings for a 20-year-old pitcher at High-A. He still has a curveball that’s seen as an 80-grade offering and a fastball that’s seen as a 60-grade offering plus an average or better change-up. Priester is still getting ground balls at a strong 52.3% rate. He’s keeping his line-drive rate below 20% as well. Plus, he’s getting a lot more strikeouts in his last 4 starts, owning a 27.8% K-rate.

Priester will get the ball tonight for the Greensboro Grasshoppers. He’ll square off against the Ashville Tourists, the Houston Astros’ High-A affiliate.