José Quintana Set For Pittsburgh Pirates Grapefruit League Debut

Veteran left-handed pitcher José Quintana is set to make his Pittsburgh Pirates Grapefruit League debut when he takes the ball on Tuesday afternoon

The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a strong start in their Grapefruit League season. Following a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday afternoon the Bucs are now 3-1 in Grapefruit League play.

While team win/loss results in spring training games do not matter there are still things taht can be taken from spring contests. Noah’s takeaways from Mitch Keller’s first spring start and continued success for the changeup of Dillon Peters are examples of this.

Tuesday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates will welcome the Baltimore Orioles to LECOM Park I Bradenton. When the first pitch is thrown on Tuesday afternoon it will be by veteran left-hander José Quintana who will be making his Pirate spring debut.

Quintana signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates coming off an up-and-down 2021 season. In 29 outings, 10 starts, with the Los Angeles Angels and San Francis Giants he posted a 6.43 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 11.8% walk rate and a 28.6% strikeout rate in 63 innings pitched.

With the Pirates, Quintana will fill a veteran role in 2022. He will be relied upon to take the ball every fifth day and log innings for the Pirates. He will also be looked to as a leader of a young starting pitching staff.

The Pirates will also be hopeful that Quintana can capture his 2012-2018 form. His strikeout rate from 2021 provides confidence, but he was hurt by the long ball and control issues. If Quintana can improve his control or limit home runs in 2022, there is reason to believe he could take a big step forward.

First pitch for Tuesday afternoon is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET. The game will be televised locally on  AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, and can watched/listen to on the MLB.TV app.