Pirates Prospect Watch: Quinn Priester’s Marvelous Month of May Continues

Entering the month of May, Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Quinn Priester owned an ugly 7.78 ERA through his first five starts of the season for Triple-A Indianapolis.

Since the calendar flipped? Priester has a 1.13 ERA through his first four starts of the current month after tossing five more shutout innings for the Indians on Sunday.

Thanks to what he has done in May, Priester has lowered his ERA by over three-and-a-half points and now has a 4.12 mark on the season.

The turnaround for Priester has been impressive. Here are the Pirates’ prospects who also impressed from Sunday’s minor league action.

Indianapolis (21-23)

RHP Quinn Priester

• Game stats: 5.0 innings, five hits, no runs, two walks, two strikeouts
• Season stats: 5-3, 4.12 ERA, 20er/43.2ip, 42 hits, 14 walks, 44 strikeouts, nine appearances/nine starts

1B Malcom Nuñez

• Game stats: 2 for 3, one home run, three RBIs, two runs, one walk
• Season stats: .244/.309/.363, four doubles, four home runs, 24 RBIs, 36 games

In addition to Priester, Nuñez has also been heating up as the season goes on. Both Pirates’ prospects had a big hand in Indianapolis’ 5-1 win over the Iowa Cubs.

Outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba doubled, scored a run and stole a base.

Altoona (18-19)

DH Mason Martin

• Game stats: 1 for 2, one home run, one RBI, two runs, one walk
• Season stats: .190/.402/.519/five doubles, seven home runs, 15 RBIs, four steals, 25 games

RHP Jared Jones

• Game stats: 4.0 innings, four hits, two runs, no walks, six strikeouts
• Season stats: 0-2, 3.00 ERA, 8er/24.0ip, 20 hits, seven walks, 28 strikeouts, six appearances/six starts

Martin homered and scored both of the Curve’s runs but Altoona was defeated 5-2 by the Bowie Baysox. Jones allowed two runs in four innings and really had his strikeout stuff working.

Pirates prospects Travis MacGregor, Tyler Samaniego and Tahnaj Thomas combined for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Greensboro (20-19)

DH Will Matthiessen

• Game stats: 3 for 5, one home run, one double, two RBIs, one run
• Season stats: .212/.333/.365, two doubles, one triple, three home runs, seven RBIs, 25 games

SS Tsung-Che Cheng

• Game stats: 3 for 5, one RBI, two runs
• Season stats: .282/.386/.556, six doubles, five triples, six home runs, 19 RBIs 10 steals, 34 games

While Matthiessen and Cheng both had big contributions at the plate, the Grasshoppers lost a 10-9 shootout to the Asheville Tourists on Sunday.

Pirates prospect Jackson Glenn also had three hits, raising his season average to .337.

Bradenton (21-18)

CF Rodolfo Nolasco

• Game stats: 1 for 4, one home run, two RBIs, one run
• Season stats: .288/.402/.534, nine doubles, three home runs, 14 RBIs, one steal, 20 games

SS Jesus Castillo

• Game stats: 0 for 1, one run, three walks
• Season stats: .276/.455/.325, four doubles, one triple, 14 RBIs, seven steals, 37 games

Nolasco’s homer was the Marauders lone hit in their 4-2 loss to the Clearwater Threshers. Castillo was the only other Pirates’ prospect in Bradenton’s lineup as he reached base three times in the loss.