Quinn Priester cherished going to Chicago Cubs games at Wrigley Field as a kid, eating hot dogs and peanuts with his grandfather and daydreaming about becoming a future major leaguer.

“Forever, the dream was to be in the home dugout,” said Priester, a native of Cary, Ill., about 40 miles northwest of Chicago. “We’ve done some cool stuff there, so I was able to be on the field holding a flag on Mother’s Day. That’s where we’d see the other team and look in the other dugout. You always think as a kid, ‘I can do this.’ Now we’re doing it. It’s really exciting.”

At 23, Priester is pumped about pitching at Wrigley Field for the first time as a major leaguer. The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie right-hander will face the Cubs during a three-game series that starts Tuesday, and he’s excited about doing so in front of large contingent of family and friends.

“There’s going to be a lot of people,” Priester said. “I’m hoping to see as many people as I can. That’s where I’ve seen most big league games in person. I’m really excited to throw there. It’s a good team. I want to beat them bad. It should be really, really fun. It totally is a nostalgia thing. I’ll make sure to get that knocked out of the way before the game starts.”

It won’t be Priester’s first time pitching at Wrigley Field. He was the starter for the National team in the Under Armour All-America Game in July 2018, before his senior year at Cary-Grove High School. The Pirates picked Priester 18th overall in the 2019 MLB Draft.

Priester faced a pair of future major-league stars in Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals, gave up a single to Cubs minor league catcher Ethan Hearn and struck out two-sport star Jerrion Ealy, who played running back and receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs last year.

“They’re all professional athletes,” Priester said. “That was a fun game. That was sick.”

Priester’s mother, Chris Foley-Priester, has worked for more than a decade in advertising, marketing and branding for Advocate Health System, a Cubs partner, so Quinn was privy to frequent access to Wrigley Field. He attended Game 5 of the 2016 World Series and even watched the Pirates play from a rooftop seat as a minor-league prospect during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020.

“I’ve sat dang near everywhere in that stadium,” Priester said.

Except, of course, for the visiting dugout.

After making his MLB debut on July 17, Priester got a good turnout of family, friends and high school teachers when he pitched in an 8-4 win at Milwaukee on Aug. 4.

He circled the calendar for his chance to pitch in Chicago, expecting even more followers. That appeared in jeopardy when Priester was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis last month after recording a 9.10 ERA and 1.92 WHIP and giving up seven home runs in his first six starts.

Priester was recalled to the Pirates after posting a 2.66 ERA over 20 1/3 innings while averaging 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings and increasing the velocity on his four-seam fastball. On Wednesday, he pitched three scoreless innings in relief before allowing four runs in a 7-6 win over the Washington Nationals at PNC Park.

“He gave up a couple hits, but overall I thought the stuff was better, the execution was better,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Overall, just was exciting to see that the stuff that he worked on in Triple-A translated to the big leagues.”

Now, Priester is ready to show he can do it against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, just like he’s always dreamed.

“I thought, ‘Chicago’s going to be really cool,’” Priester said. “Then I hit a little road bump there and was like, ‘Dang, I’m going to miss Chicago this year.’ But I worked my butt off and now I’m not going to miss Chicago, so it’s going to be exciting. I’m looking forward to getting out there and competing.”

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