Perrotto: Ex-Pirate Quinn Priester Shows Baseball Can Be Simple
PITTSBURGH – This is what the Pittsburgh Pirates dreamed about when they chose Quinn Priester in the first round of the 2019 amateur draft.
The right-hander was on the mound in a pennant race game in September at PNC Park and shone. Priester allowed two runs in seven innings while winning his 11th consecutive decision and setting a franchise record.
However, there was one problem. Priester was pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers instead of the Pirates in the 5-2 victory.
The Pirates traded Priester to the Boston Red Sox at last year’s deadline. The Red Sox then dealt Priester to the Brewers on April 7, who were desperate for pitching help due to injuries.
Priester has been one of MLB’s breakout stars this season and is helping put the Brewers on the precipice of reaching the postseason for the seventh time in eight seasons. The Brewers hold a 5.5-game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central with barely more than three weeks left in the season.
Meanwhile, the Pirates are on course for their 29th losing season in the last 33 years.
It is at this point in the column that we must insert the obligatory reference to the Brewers playing in the smallest market in baseball. That eliminates the Pirates’ primary excuse for not reaching the playoffs since 2015 or winning a division title since 1992.
Priester did not revel in beating his original organization. However, it was a special moment in the 24-year-old’s career.
Priester’s 11 straight wins set a franchise record. Chris Bosio and Cal Eldred had 10-game streaks in 1992.
In 26 games, including 21 starts, for the Brewers, Priester has a 12-2 record and 3.25 ERA. That is a drastic turnaround from going 5-9 with a 6.46 ERA in 20 games (14 starts) for the Pirates during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
I asked Priester after the game what had changed in the 13 months since he left the Pirates’ organization.
Priester didn’t disparage the Pirates. However, it was clear that being with a winning organization and playing for a team with an MLB-best 87-55 record has impacted him positively.
“There’s no doubt that everybody in this clubhouse believes in me,” Priester said. “That’s a very powerful thing. They believe in me for a reason, that confidence to execute pitches — but not necessarily strike everybody out but get the ball on the ground simplified the game for me a lot. Through that simplification, I’ve been able to learn a lot better.”
The one criticism I’ve heard from players who have left Pittsburgh in recent years is that the Pirates try to make the game challenging. Much of that is because of general manager Ben Cherington, who values analytics, biomechanics, and other mathematical and scientific measures over plain old-fashioned baseball sense.
In fairness, the Pirates are developing a lot of good young pitchers. They could afford to trade Priester.
And nobody could have envisioned a year ago that Priester would have a 12-2 record for the best team in baseball. Yet he has become a key member of the best team in baseball.
“He was throwing the ball with conviction,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of Priester’s performance on Friday night.
The age-old question in baseball is, does confidence breed success, or does success breed confidence? We may never get the answer.
Baseball is a challenging game, though, and Priester is proof that success comes more easily from simplifying things than complicating them.
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