Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Strong Start From Quinn Priester & More

Quinn Priester turns in a strong start at Triple-A, Braxton Ashcraft pitches well at Low-A, and more in Easter Sunday's Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

After struggling in his first start of the season, Quinn Priester once again toed the rubber for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians on Sunday afternoon. This time around Priester turned in a much better start as he went 5 strong for the Indians.

Priester allowed just 1 run on two hits in his 5 innings pitched. While he did walk three batters, he countered that with four strikeouts. He threw 46 of 73 pitches for strikes and was also called for a pitch clock violation.

All in all it was an encouraging start from Priester. His fastball likely is what it is at this point and that's a pretty average at best pitch. When his breaking stuff is working he can still find success, though, which is something he showed today.

Robert Stephenson followed Priester as he continues his rehab assignment at Triple-A. Stephenson walked a pair of batters, but did not allow a hit and struck out two while pitching a scoreless 6th inning.

Cody Bolton followed Stephenson and pitched a dominant inning. Bolton faced four batters, while he hit a batter he struck out the other three and he needed just 16 pitches to do so. The move to the bullpen is one that appears to be doing Bolton a lot good. Lefty Angel Perdomo finished the game off with 2 scoreless innings, walking a pair and striking out four.

Offensively, there was a large cast of character who chipped in for Indy. Travis Swaggerty was 2-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI at the top of the lineup. Swaggerty picked up his 4th double and 2nd triple of the season.

Tucupita Marcano played in left field and continued his strong start to the season going 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored, three RBI, and already his 7th double of the season. Right fielder Chavez Young was 0-for-2, but walked twice while scoring a pair of runs. Endy Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a walk, run scord, and a RBI. Nick Gonzales went 0-for-2, but drew a walk and drove in a pair of runs.

Poor offense sinks Low-A Bradenton

Suffering a 4-2 loss to the Clearwater Threshers to fall to 1-2 on the season, the offense sunk the Low-A Bradenton Marauders on Sunday afternoon. Shortstop Javier Rivas was 3-for-5 with a run scored, but the rest of the Marauder lineup had just four hits.

Center fielder Tres Gonzales was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Jesus Castillo started at second base going 1-for-3, and third baseman Deivis Nadal was 1-for-2 with a double, a walk, and both Marauder RBI.

Braxton Ashcraft has struggled injuries throughout his professional career. Sunday afternoon he looked very healthy in his 2023 debut, allowing a hit, issuing zero walks, and striking out five batters in 3 scoreless innings pitched. If Ashcraft can find health he could still have a strong professional career, although it would likely be as a reliever.

Kent Emanuel struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 4th inning pitched. J.P. Massey pitched 3 innings of relief, but allowed 3 runs on three hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Yunior Thibo allowed a solo home run while striking a batter out in the 8th inning. Carlos Lomeli then struck a batter out in a scoreless 9th inning.