There's a case to be made that this was Quinn Priester's proper major-league debut, because the pitcher who was optioned to the minors after a series of bad starts back in August didn't look like the pitcher who was on PNC Park's pitcher's mound Wednesday.
"Stuff is better," Derek Shelton said after the Pirates' 7-6 win over the Nationals Wednesday. "... Overall I thought the stuff was better, the execution was better. Overall just was exciting to see that the stuff that he worked on in Triple-A translated to the big leagues."
Entering in the second inning after the Pirates used Colin Selby as an opener, Priester came out of the gate throwing harder than he did at any point in his first stint in the majors. In his first six starts with the Pirates, he hit 95 mph on the radar gun just five times. On Wednesday, he threw 14 pitches that registered at 95 mph or above. Entering the night, his major-league fastball averaged 92.7 mph. Every single sinker and four-seamer he threw Wednesday was clocked higher than that average, with the median being just under 95 mph.
Velocity isn't everything for a pitcher, but after losing several ticks this season and paying the price for it, seeing that spike in speed Priester enjoyed in the minors translate to the majors is definitely a sigh of relief for him and the organization.
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSvideos) September 14, 2023
"It's nice," Priester said with a chuckle Tuesday. "You can just throw balls by guys instead of having to hit spots perfectly."
It's suspected that Priester's made some mechanical tweaks to help unlock that extra velocity, but when he talked about what's different, he focused on the change in mentality. He stopped thinking as much and just focused on starting to throw. When posed a question about his mechanics, Priester politely declined to get too deep into it, saying, "the more I focus on what each individual body part does, the worse I understand what I'm doing."
Something is clicking right now, so let's avoid the paralysis by analysis for a bit.
“That’s been my whole career,” Priester said. “It’s not lack of effort. It’s almost too much where I’m trying to fix so many things or trying to get so much better at one time when it takes time. Just kind of went back and let the body take over, let the athlete take back over, and good things happened.”
This isn't exactly new for Priester. Early in his career, minor-league pitching coaches and coordinators would ask him what he was feeling in just a few words, hoping he will focus on just the big picture. The minutia could get in the way, which is how someone went from throwing in the mid-90s to 91 and 92 last month.
“When most guys come to the big leagues – not just with Quinn – everything is going too fast,” Shelton said Tuesday. “You over-analyze every single thing that happens whether it’s good or bad. Why is this happening or why is this not happening? I think that’s natural.”
Priester inherited an early lead coming out in the second inning and quickly got into a groove, retiring his first 10 batters faced by leaning on that extra heat and good spin pitches. Things quickly went sideways in the sixth though after issuing a walk to CJ Abrams, starting a rally that included a Dominic Smith homer and him exiting with the Pirates' lead quickly down from 7-1 to 7-5.
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSvideos) September 14, 2023
Priester finished the night with four runs allowed on four strikeouts and four hits over four frames, with that Abrams walks and two home runs mixed in. Priester thought that the walk got him out of attack mode. Looking at his pitch location, he started to hang more breaking pitches, which Smith and the Nationals jumped on:
It's not how one wants to wrap up a first start back, but with the hindsight of a win, it's a little easier to process. The bats get the credit there, rallying for four runs in the first inning before Bryan Reynolds added a two-run shot in the fourth-inning to stretch the lead.
"I felt really, really good," Priester said. "The ball came out really well, spinning the breaking ball as well. I was happy with how the ball came out. Just need to execute better."
Focusing on execution over wondering where the stuff has gone seems to be a step in the right direction. There are some hang ups that still need to be ironed out. Wednesday was not the first time Priester coasted for most of the game before hitting a bump that caused a spiral out of control. That comes with learning the major-league game.
And a win with better stuff sure makes it seem like he is learning.
"It’s awesome, man," Priester said. "The results aren’t indicative of how I feel about it. I think there’s so much more to build on there than there was before. I’m really excited to keep working and the results are going to come."
PIRATES
Quinn Priester delivers a pitch Wednesday.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Team feed
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: RF Henry Davis (thumb)
• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), INF Tucupita Marcano (knee), LHP Angel Perdomo (elbow), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ji Hwan Bae, CF
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
4. Jack Suwinski, DH
5. Endy Rodríguez, C
6. Joshua Palacios, RF
7. Liover Peguero, SS
8. Miguel Andújar, DH
9. Jared Triolo, 2B
And for Dave Martinez's Nationals:
1. CJ Abrams, SS
2. Lane Thomas, RF
3. Dominic Smith, 1B
4. Joey Meneses, DH
5. Travis Blacnkenhorn, LF
6. Luis García, 2B
7. Drew Millas, C
8. Jake Alu, 3B
9. Jacob Young, CF
THE SCHEDULE
Mitch Keller (11-9, 4.23) will take the ball Thursday as the Pirates try to take the four-game series. Josiah Gray (7-11, 4.13) will counter for the Nationals, with first pitch set for 12:35 p.m. DK will have you covered.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT