Article: Next Season, Quinn Priester Could Start for the Red Sox (Or for Another Team)

[Patrick Callahan]

How the Red Sox have encouraged the young right-hander to adjust his delivery, and how he could fit into their (or another team's) rotation next season.

In July, with the Red Sox farm system overflowing with position-player prospects, Craig Breslow decided to flip one of those Triple-A bats for an arm. He sent Nick Yorke, the team’s sixth-ranked prospect, to Pittsburgh in exchange for right-hander Quinn Priester. The 24-year-old Priester’s swing-and-miss stuff has made waves on Twitter ever since he was drafted out of high school in 2019, but he’s more of a sinkerballer, with groundball tendencies similar to Tanner Houck’s. It would be unfair to expect Priester to make a leap like the one Houck made this year, but the ability to crack the 2025 starting rotation is well within reach.

Since he arrived in Worcester, the Red Sox have instructed Priester to lower his release point. He’s seen velocity tick up slightly on his sinker, and with the new arm slot has come a new objective.

More velocity obviously puts more stress on a pitcher’s arm, but it also brings more strikeouts, and over Priester’s 20 major-league appearances thus far, strikeouts have been hard to come by. While in the majors, he has carried a 6.45 ERA and 15.4 strikeout rate, a far cry from his 3.60 ERA and 24.7% strikeout rate in the minors. Once he’s back in the majors, the contact-managing righty will want to see his strikeout rate around the low 20s, similar to Houck’s. Between Houck, Priester, and Brayan Bello, it’s clear this coaching staff and front office love fielding groundball pitchers at hitter-friendly Fenway. The only problem with that plan is that whether you look at the defensive metrics or just watch the games, it’s easy to see that Boston’s infield defense has been putrid. It should be better with a fully healthy Trevor Story and an improved Triston Casas, but this has been a problem in the organization for some time now.

Plenty of people would like to see Priester pitch in the major sometime during these last two soul-crushing weeks of baseball, including general managers around the league. A young, controllable starter with a chance to crack the big-league rotation is a legit trade piece. How much will the Red Sox and other teams value the adjustments Priester has made since the trade? Will teams want to see him against a big-league lineup? Will the Red Sox want to risk seeing him exposed by big-league hitters, costing him trade value? Those are questions for the negotiating table.

This offseason, there’s hope, expectation, and an absolute need to add a front-line starter to join Houck, Bello, and Lucas Giolito in the rotation. The fifth starter spot would then be a battle between Kutter Crawford, Richard Fitts, Priester, and possibly Zach Penrod, who has looked excellent in his three big-league starts. Fitts didn’t dominate in his two stars, but he did look like he belonged in the majors. Crawford’s continued struggles with the long ball were a disappointment, but he’s been a valuable surprise: an above-average pitcher for two seasons who led the team in starts this year. Keeping two of these three starters as depth pieces will be very important, but don’t be surprised to see one of them included as a trade piece for a bigger fish this offseason.

View full article

[moonslav59]

I'm glad we are making deals like this one. Sooner or later, we will get one that does well.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

26 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm glad we are making deals like this one. Sooner or later, we will get one that does well.

For sure, young pitching is hard to come by.

[Maddie Landis]

Both Priester and Fitts look like they could provide legitimate depth for the 2025 rotation. 

Fitts also had an up-and-down year in Triple A before being called up to the majors. I wanted to take his first start with a grain of salt since he was pitching against the White Sox. However, he looked absolutely superb in his recent start against the Yankees, whiffing Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Sadly, the bullpen couldn't finish the job.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

For sure, young pitching is hard to come by.

Super hard. I get it, but we have seen some traded in the past few years.

Plus, what other teams have better everyday players to package up to land one?

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Maddie Landis said:

Both Priester and Fitts look like they could provide legitimate depth for the 2025 rotation. 

Fitts also had an up-and-down year in Triple A before being called up to the majors. I wanted to take his first start with a grain of salt since he was pitching against the White Sox. However, he looked absolutely superb in his recent start against the Yankees, whiffing Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Sadly, the bullpen couldn't finish the job.

I hope just count them as depth, not as our #5.

[mvp 78]

I have much higher hopes for Fitts and Priester than Penrod as a starter. Not sure they will be more than back end guys, but they should be able to compensate for the loss of Pivetta. Penrod is purely a reliever going forward. He'll be 28 next season and he has only thrown 3 innings in 4 MLB games. At the moment he's an early career Andrew Miller clone who loses control at a moments notice.

[Maddie Landis]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I hope just count them as depth, not as our #5.

Big agree.

In addition to the logjam of outfielders, the team has a decent number of #4-#5 SPs that could be part of a trade package. 

They certainly can build on their 2024 success, but the FO needs to provide the resources to build a legitimate rotation that isn't solely comprised of #4-#5 guys. 

[moonslav59]

16 minutes ago, Maddie Landis said:

Big agree.

In addition to the logjam of outfielders, the team has a decent number of #4-#5 SPs that could be part of a trade package. 

They certainly can build on their 2024 success, but the FO needs to provide the resources to build a legitimate rotation that isn't solely comprised of #4-#5 guys. 

Yes! I'd gladly include a 4/5/6 type pitchers with 4+ years of control (like Fitts, priester, Dobbins or even Crawford) in a package for a 1/2 type pitcher with 3+ years of control.

I'm not sure what a package of Abreu, Crawford and Priester gets us- probably not a # 1 or #2, but maybe a really good #3. (Someone much better than Crawford.)