When the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Quinn Priester to the Boston Red Sox last summer, they probably didn’t think he’d be back in the NL Central so soon.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Red Sox turned around and traded Priester to the Milwaukee Brewers in April, making one of Pittsburgh’s division rivals even stronger.
Priester has taken off for the Brewers, going 13-2 with the best winning percentage in baseball (.867) and a 3.25 ERA in 152 1/3 innings. They’ve won his last 16 starts — the longest streak for a pitcher 25 or younger since the New York Yankees won 22 straight Whitey Ford starts from 1950 to 1953.
While Priester may not become a Hall of Famer like Ford, there’s no question that he’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year. Milwaukee has gone 21-7 in his appearances, contributing to the team’s MLB-best 94-59 record.
While the Pirates have plenty of pitching, they’d be better off if they still had Priester. The player they got back for him, Nick Yorke, has yet to make a significant impact, batting .195/.241/.299 with -0.2 WAR in 24 career games so far.
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A 23-year-old former top prospect, Yorke still has time to develop into a quality Major League player. However, Priester’s only a year and a half older and already looks like a star.
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Priester is under team control through 2030, so he probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He dominated the Pirates in his two starts against them this year, going 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 13 innings.
Pittsburgh did its best to get Priester as far away from the NL Central as possible. Unfortunately for the Pirates, however, Boston had other ideas.
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