Pirates' Quinn Priester, 2019 1st-round draft pick, pumped to make MLB debut

After a comebacker bounced off his calf in the first inning Friday night, Quinn Priester returned to the dugout and was informed by Indianapolis Indians manager Miguel Perez he was being pulled from the game.

The 22-year-old right-hander was in for a sweet surprise.

“He was like, ‘We’re not risking it. You’re not going back out there.’ I was like, ‘Come on, man, what are you talking about?’ Then he ended up telling me that I was coming to the big leagues,” Priester said Sunday. “That was a really special moment, for it to happen in the dugout with all my teammates down there. So it was awesome.”

Pirates RHP Quinn Priester, a 2019 first-round pick, on anticipation of making his major league debut Monday against the Cleveland Guardians at PNC Park. pic.twitter.com/vQsdxl4JL2

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) July 16, 2023

Priester will make his major-league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night at PNC Park. It’s something he has dreamt about and worked toward since being selected with the No. 18 pick in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Cary-Grove (Ill.) High School and signing for a $3.4 million bonus.

“Since I can remember. I always thought I was going to be a professional baseball player, a big-league baseball player,” Priester said. “But then as you’re growing up, you start to realize how hard that is. Then I came back around and realized, ‘Oh crap, I can actually do this,’ and just worked really hard at it, kept getting better and now it’s a new chapter for me. I’m really excited to keep learning and doing things right.”

So sharing the news of the promotion with his parents, who have supported him through all of the ups and downs of his career, was a special moment.

“I called my mother, and she started flipping out. I called my dad, and he didn’t believe me,” Priester said. “He said, ‘You’re kidding. I thought you were hurt.’ I knew they were watching the game, and they saw the ground ball hit off my leg and he said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a 180. I thought it got you in a bad spot.’”

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Priester is ranked the Pirates’ No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, which ranks him No. 54 in its top 100. He was 7-3 with a 4.31 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 87 2/3 innings over 18 starts at Triple-A Indianapolis, recording 84 strikeouts against 35 walks as opponents batted .251 with six home runs against him.

Priester will become the fourth first-round pick to make his major-league debut in the span of a month, joining right-handed reliever Carmen Mlodzinski (2020), right fielder Henry Davis (2021) and second baseman Nick Gonzales (2020).

“I don’t think the draft round has much to do with it,” Mlodzinski said. “It’s more playing with those guys and being around them the last two-and-a-half years, you see how hard they work and how committed they are to try to help their team win games. I think that’s ultimately what this organization is asking from us: Come up and help us win games.”

Pirates RHP Quinn Priester, who will make his MLB debut Monday against Cleveland, talks about his pitch offerings. pic.twitter.com/1AMpQJtOSp

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) July 16, 2023

Priester has a reputation for being a student of the game, from watching YouTube videos of major-league pitchers for tips on mechanics while in high school to studying his analytics for ways to improve.

His best pitch is a curveball, but Priester added a slider the season he spent at the alternate training site at Altoona during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and a sinker while at High-A Greensboro in 2021, when he was selected for the All-Star Futures Game.

Priester missed the start of the following season with an oblique injury but shined at Double-A Altoona and was promoted to Indy late last season. He found a comfortable grip to improve his changeup and believes his four-seam fastball is trending upward.

“I’m excited to see what he’s going to do,” said Davis, who caught Priester in the minors. “He’s going to work really hard to be the best big leaguer he can be. He’s very good at making adjustments and finding out what’s the game asking him. He’s got a lot of good offerings. Whatever he feels like is the best pitch to get the hitter out, he’ll go with.”

Priester had pinpointed this summer as the goal for him to reach the major leagues, so he called his promotion “a testament to all the people who have really helped me get here” and his work ethic.

“I knew that I had an awesome support at that point. I knew I was going to work my (rear end) off to get here,” Priester said. “Day after day, week after week, keep your head down. Don’t ask why, just work harder and good things are gonna happen. Good things have happened.

“I just want to keep that trend going. I always like to set higher goals for myself. That way there’s never a day you can take off because you always have to be working at those goals. If I’m not, someone else is.”