TORONTO -- With Martin Perez on the 15-day injured list and a void left to be filled in the starting rotation, the Pirates added Quinn Priester to the taxi squad Saturday, presumably opening the door for him to take Perez's spot and start against the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre Sunday afternoon.
Priester has made five starts at the major-league level this season, sporting a 4.33 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. In 27 innings of work, he's surrendered 17 runs (13 earned) on 31 hits with 10 walks and 17 strikeouts. He's allowed seven home runs and opposing hitters are batting .274 against him.
Still, there were signs of improvements from last year's sample of 10 appearances and eight starts in which he compiled a 7.74 ERA and experienced his share of growing pains in 50 big-league innings. In this latest stint, he went six innings in three of his starts and delivered with back-to-back quality starts against the Giants and Athletics during the team's trip to the Bay Area in late April/early May.
“He just continues to get better," Derek Shelton said. "We’re in a situation where we obviously need a starter with Martin on the IL. For Quinn, it’s just a matter of making sure that he keeps the ball on the plate and he stays in attack mode.”
After being optioned back to Class AAA Indianapolis on May 15, Priester made two starts for the Indians. He went four innings and allowed three earned runs on May 21 and most recently allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings on May 26.
“I feel good that we have depth," Shelton said. "The fact that we’ve built more depth is something that’s really important.”
