Quinn Priester brings different pitching philosophy to Pirates' ailing staff

At times, the Pirates’ rotation has seemed like a revolving door. As soon as one pitcher recovers from injury, another two seem to go down. Jared Jones and Bailey Falter will now be out until after the All-Star break, and it may be up to Quinn Priester to keep the team afloat if they want to stay in contention for the NL Wild Card.

Priester got the call and the win on Tuesday against the division-leading Brewers, and his eight-strikeout relief performance may very well have earned him a start as the Pirates wrap up the first half against the pitiful White Sox. Despite Priester's career marks of a 6.26 ERA and 1.597 WHIP, the Pittsburgh faithful should welcome the first-rounder’s addition to the rotation.

The Pirates have built a rotation around strikeout-rich power pitching, but Priester’s ground ball approach could provide success.

When drafted, the Pirates hoped that Priester would profile into a power pitcher with high velocity, but he has found his bread-and-butter with solid command and improved secondary stuff. He gets better as the game goes on, with his best career splits coming in the third and fourth innings, once he has been able to establish his sinker and begin to use his breaking pitches.

Priester’s changeup has seen the most improvement. FanGraphs credited the pitch with 69 Stuff+ in 2023, and it has risen to 86 so far this season. The change gives Priester a middle-velocity pitch with downward movement between his sinker and curveball. Priester’s slider, though, is a point of trouble, despite having his best Stuff+ ranking. What was his second most frequently used pitch in 2023 has dropped to fourth-most due to a -4 run value.

Priester’s expected stats are all slightly better than his actual stats, with the greatest disparity being between his xFIP (3.89) and actual FIP (5.06). xFIP essentially considers the fact that pitchers cannot control whether a ball leaves the park, but they can control whether that ball is in the air in the first place. Priester is very, very good at this aspect of pitching. His 59.2 percent ground ball rate ranks in the 96th percentile.

The Pirates’ starters have been outstanding this season, particularly All-Star snub and ace Mitch Keller. Their 3.60 ERA is second-best in the National League, but they rank in the bottom half of the league in ground ball rate. Priester could bring a new look to an injury-riddled staff.