During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z, an alphabetical, player-by-player look at the 40-man roster.

Player: Quinn Priester

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Age: 23

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 210 pounds

2023 MLB statistics: Went 3-3 with a 7.74 ERA and 1.70 WHIP, 36 strikeouts and 27 walks in 50 innings over 10 appearances, including eight starts.

Contract: Not eligible for arbitration until 2027.

Acquired: Selected in the first round (No. 18 overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft.

This past season: Priester set his sights on making his major league debut in 2023, saying during spring training that he would “need to reassess” if he didn’t pitch at PNC Park sometime over the summer.

“Totally, I feel that I’m there,” Priester said. “I feel like I have the ability to, and if I keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep getting better, obviously, there’s no stopping there. Regardless of that promotion or that call, that’s always going to continue. I feel really confident in what I can do, and that’s being a big league pitcher.”

Priester entered the season as the Pirates’ top pitching prospect, ranked No. 54 by MLB Pipeline and No. 58 overall by Baseball America. He was 7-3 with a 4.31 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 87 2/3 innings over 18 starts at Triple-A Indianapolis, recording 84 strikeouts against 35 walks as opponents batted .251 with six home runs against him.

On July 17, Priester became the fourth Pirates first-round pick to make his major-league debut in the span of a month, joining right-handed reliever Carmen Mlodzinski (2020), right fielder Henry Davis (2021) and second baseman Nick Gonzales (2020). Top prospect Endy Rodriguez debuted on the same day, working as Priester’s battery mate against the Cleveland Guardians at PNC Park.

And it was a disaster.

Priester retired the first nine batters he faced by getting eight groundouts and a lineout, throwing 19 of his 25 pitches for strikes. His next two times through the order didn’t go so well.

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Priester never threw a pitch at a velocity higher than 94.3 mph. Steven Kwan drew a five-pitch leadoff walk in the fourth inning, and Amed Rosario sent Priester’s slider 408 feet into the visiting bullpen for a home run.

“First three went really well, filling it up and getting ahead early,” Priester said. “Then that is what changed: starting to fall behind guys. Really tried to fight back into counts, but against good hitters, need to be a little bit better, for sure.”

Priester recorded his first career strikeout in the fifth by getting designated hitter Josh Bell, a former Pirates All-Star, swinging at an 80-mph curveball just below the strike zone. Priester followed by walking Will Brennan, who scored on Bo Naylor’s double to the North Side Notch to give the Guardians a 3-0 lead.

“The first three innings, he put the ball on the ground,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Used the sinker and kept the ball down in the zone. Both walks ended up coming back to hurt him. … And then after that, it looked like it flattened out a little bit, got up in the zone.”

Priester got rocked in the sixth, when Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor had RBI doubles and Andres Gimenez drilled Priester’s 91.8-mph four-seam fastball 363 feet to right for a two-run homer and a 7-0 lead.

“I did some really good things. In those first three innings, definitely proved to myself that I belong,” said Priester, who got 11 groundouts. “The later three innings, couple of walks, I let myself fall behind. It’s more about doing what I did in the first three than the last three and being able to repeat that, find those things out of the stretch and feel real confident there. It’s always gonna be things to work on. From this start, we saw a couple things that definitely need to be worked on.”

Priester gave up another homer to a light-hitting middle infielder against San Diego on July 25, when Ha-Seong Kim hit one in the first inning. Priester held the Padres scoreless for the next three innings but allowed four runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings in an 8-4 win.

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His propensity for walks and home runs hurt Priester, who allowed 29 earned runs and seven homers in his first six starts. After he allowed at least one run in each of his five innings in a 7-2 loss to the New York Mets, he said he believed he was close to turning the corner.

“I feel that way every day, man. Seriously,” Priester said. “The work we’ve been putting in day-in, day-out, the things people aren’t seeing has been awesome. I’ve been really, really happy with the work I’ve been putting in, the work we’ve been doing as a staff. It just hasn’t quite translated into the result yet. I know that we’re close. I’ve just got to keep my head down, keep working hard, keep getting those things and the result’s going to come.

“I just know what type of player I can be. I see that every day. That’s why having outings like this is super frustrating, because I know it’s not the type of player I am.”

The Pirates ran out of patience, however, and optioned Priester to Indianapolis.

A month later, he returned in a new role. Priester pitched in relief, following opener Colin Selby against the Washington Nationals. Priester’s fastball was clocked at 94.5 mph, up a few ticks from his previous stint, and he retired 10 consecutive batters before running into trouble. He surrendered a homer to Drew Millas in the fifth, walked CJ Abrams to start the sixth and gave up a double to Lane Thomas and a two-run homer to Dominic Smith.

On Sept. 24, Priester produced his first quality start by throwing five perfect innings before giving up a two-run homer to TJ Friedl in a 4-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

“Still need to be better in the sixth, to keep us ahead in the game and give us a chance to win,” Priester said. “Today was a lot better than it had been. I just kept staying on the attack, kept filling it up and kept giving our guys a chance.”

Priester relied on his sinker that topped out at 96.6 mph and helped induce 10 groundouts, throwing it on 39 of his 92 pitches.

“He did a good job with the sinker,” Shelton said. “Really used it effectively, used it to mix back and forth and maintained his velocity. The two guys at the top gave him some issues. Then he made one bad pitch. Overall, I thought he threw the ball really well.”

The future: Where Priester’s 53% groundball rate ranked in the 89th percentile, per Statcast, he was among the bottom five in strikeout rate (15.4%), hard-hit rate (47%), expected ERA (6.28) and expected batting average (.297).

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Simply put, his four-seam fastball didn’t play at the major league level, as it was hit for a .386 average and four homers. He relied more on a sinker-slider combination, despite hitters having trouble with his curveball (.208).

A high school football star, Priester is too athletic to be as stiff and rigid as he appeared in his first month in the majors. He admitted as much, learning to loosen up in his return to Indy. He has to reduce the home runs (12 in 50 innings) and walk rate (11.5%) to become more effective, which requires the conviction to command the strike zone.

Although Priester’s star is falling, as he dropped out of the top 100 rankings, he’s still young and talented. But he needs to increase and maintain the fastball velocity and throw strikes to be more effective.

Given the Pirates’ lack of starting pitching depth, Priester will have a shot to earn a spot in the starting rotation but nothing is promised for a former first-rounder who was once one of their top prospects.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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