Quinn Priester admits he’s caught himself daydreaming about playoff games at PNC Park.
Both he and the Pirates have a long way to go before they get to that point. The club is in the early stages of a rebuild, and since the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the minor league season, the 20-year-old Priester has only pitched nine games in the minors. Both are going to need at least a couple years before those daydreams can become a reality.
But Priester is getting a taste of what that Major League life is like this spring in Pirate City. The Pirates were allowed to invite up to 71 players to spring training and used some of those spots on their top prospects so they could spend more time around coaching. That group included Priester, the Pirates’ top pitching prospect.
“It’s been a lot of learning and a lot of fun getting to know the guys up here and starting to form those relationships as teammates,” Priester said in a Zoom call from Bradenton, Fla. Saturday. “It’s been a really fun past four days. I’ve learned a whole lot from a bunch of these guys like Chad [Kuhl] and Steven Brault and [Jacob] Stallings, all those guys. Really trying to help me out, which I really do appreciate. I’m trying to take in as much as I can from all the guys with more experience.”
That’s why Pirates’ coaching and leadership wanted to bring him to spring training. He is going to head to the minor league camp at some point, probably in one of the first batch of cuts, and he won’t be stretched out yet like a normal starter since his first minor league game will not be May 4. But he can pick people’s brains, be around coaches and get to know some of the players who could be his future teammates.
“As a young guy, we have to bring the bats out to the cages when we bunt. Get on top of that,” Priester said about making a good impression in camp. “Make sure those little things are done and kind of earn that respect from doing the little things right. And also listening… I’m here to have open ears, not an open mouth.”
Priester’s work ethic, especially in fielding drills, caught Kyle Crick’s eye, though the two are in different groupings for spring training and haven’t been able to talk yet.
“Whenever the groups get smaller, that’ll be one of the first guys I go up to,” Crick said.
Crick isn’t the only one that Priester has impressed recently. His performance in the instructional league last October opened a lot of scouts’ eyes. Even though he was away from the team for most of the year, he got noticeably better.
Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and FanGraphs all have him on their top 100 prospects list in about the same spots, ranging from 46th overall to 58th.
“It was definitely a lot of adversity that had to be overcame there,” Priester said. “I’m really proud of doing that. To get that recognition on top of that is icing on the cake.”
His ceiling isn’t just being a top 50-or-so prospect. Earlier this month, Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline reported that some scouts have told him he “could emerge as the best pitching prospect in baseball in 2021.” Tools wise, he has the stuff to be a front of the rotation pitcher, if not an ace.
“These are the type of people we need to draft,” Derek Shelton said. “These are the type of people we need to bring in. We need to develop our system with guys like this.”
Shelton said the goal for Priester this camp is for him to get his feet wet and start to establish those relationships.
Oh, and to do some pitching.
“They didn’t get invited here just to hang around,” pitching coach Oscar Marin said, also referring to some of the other young pitchers in camp. “That’s for sure. That’s one of the conversations we had as a group, the rest of the pitching coaches being here with Hopp [pitching coordinator Justin Hopper] and [bullpen coach] Justin Meccage -- hey, they’re here for a reason. We have to identify what we feel is going to allow them to take the next step, so when it is time for them to start coming up at this level, they have to have some clarity of what they need to do and what their identity is.”
One of the areas that Priester is trying to get better at this spring is his changeup. He has a three pitch mix, with his fastball and curveball each getting rave reviews. In FanGraphs’ most recent prospect update, they project Priester’s curveball to potentially be 80-grade, the highest rating a pitch can get on the 20-80 scale. They could eventually be plus-pitches in the Majors.
The changeup is by no means bad, but it is the weakest of the three offerings. So he’s been talking changeups with the pitchers in camp who he feels throws the pitch well.
Between the instructional camp and his time around upper-level players over the past year, he feels it is improving.
“It is a confidence thing,” Priester said. “After last season throwing it and forcing myself to throw it, I have a lot more confidence. Even through the first couple days of camp, being able to work with Oscar and Han [Indianapolis pitching coach Joel Hanrahan] and a bunch of these pitching coaches that are so great within our organization, I’ve made even more great changes mentality-wise. That has made the pitch a lot more consistent.”
After spring training, it will be time to translate that improvement into games.
After a year of sim games, bullpens and the occasional stop with Pirates coaching, Priester is close to pitching in those games he’s been “itching” to be in for so long.
The question is where exactly will he start the season. He hasn’t pitched above low-A, but after being around coaching more than other prospects his age, it seems likely he will pitch in high-A Greensboro at some point this season. Depending on how far he rises this year could determine if he will be on pace to reach the Majors in 2023 or 2024.
Those daydreams of pitching at PNC Park in October are going to have to just be that far, dreams. Now, he’s just focusing on getting better.
“That’s not in my control, ultimately,” Priester said. “I set goals coming into spring training, such as keep hammering on my changeup, work on four-seams glove side, certain things like curveball, strike to ball, but in terms of the season, I don’t know exactly what I want to set yet, because I want to go through this spring training, see what’s working well, what isn’t working well and what I want to get better. Then those things I’ll take with me into the season and say, ‘I want a strike percentage of this, a swing-and-miss percentage of this.’ Something that’s tangible, that I can see at the end of the year that, yes, I did achieve this or, no, I need to work harder on it.”
More on the Pirates' fourth day of workouts:
• Todd Frazier passed his physical Saturday and was officially added to the spring training roster.
If he makes the team, it would be as a backup corner infielder.
"I had a conversation with him the other night before he decided, and just kind of talked through what our opportunity was," Shelton said. "I think he’s a nice addition to our group."
• The Pirates invited infielder Hunter Owen to spring training also Saturday. He will be the 72nd player in camp, with the league permitting up to 75.
Owen, 27, tore up Altoona in 2019, hitting 15 home runs with a .935 OPS over 68 games played. He made the jump to Indianapolis that year, but was hit by a 06 mph hour fastball in the left hand early on and never got his swing back that year.
Talking to him in September, he was fortunate enough to use Indianapolis' facilities during the shutdown since he lived in the area. This is a critical year for his development, but there is potential for him to be a good right-handed power option for the bench who could play all four corner positions.
Owen was on the radar to potentially be added to the spring training roster, but the Pirates wanted to wait before making it official.
"One of the things that we had to be thoughtful of is we weren’t going to put ourselves in a position, if we did sign a bunch of free agents coming in, that we were going to have to tell someone they weren’t coming," Shelton said. "So I think we waited to the point where we were comfortable with our number, and then we were able to add him."
• Between Frazier, Phillip Evans and Erik Gonzalez, not to mention Ke'Bryan Hayes, the Pirates have plenty of options to play the hot corner.
Colin Moran is now a first baseman, but Shelton doesn't want him to retire the third base glove just yet. He wants Moran to take reps there during practice, believing it will help him field his new position.
"I have a personal strong belief that if you work at other positions, it helps you move your feet, helps you be better at that position," Shelton said. "It’s actually something that I learned from Ben Zobrist when he was playing second. He used to take a lot of his ground balls at short, and I asked him one day, ‘Why?’ And you keep your feet moving when you’re on the other side of the diamond. And guys that get on the first-base side or the right side feel a little bit stagnant because you have more time, so I think any time we can get guys on that side of the bag … it’s why with shifts and defensive positioning, [Adam] Frazier goes over there sometimes and takes balls. Your second baseman’s doing it. You’ll see our younger second basemen do that. You’ll see [Nick] Gonzales do it during Spring Training, because it is important to stay on that side of the field for just the movement."