Tim Benz: ‘Stiff and rigid’ Quinn Priester has diagnosed his problems — now he has to fix them
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For Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Quinn Priester, it’s not a matter of trying to figure out what’s happening. The young right-hander certainly seems to have a handle on what’s going wrong.
The diagnosis isn’t a mystery for the former first-round pick. It’s the remedy that remains a puzzle.
Through six starts, Priester has an earned run average of 9.10. In five of those six starts, he has allowed at least four earned runs. In his latest outing Monday night against the New York Mets, Priester (2-2) was tagged with the 7-2 loss, allowing seven hits, six earned runs and three walks, tossing a career-high 102 pitches in five innings. The 22-year-old has yielded 29 earned runs and seven home runs since his Major League debut on July 17.
His biggest problem Monday was putting batters away with two outs or with two strikes.
“We had two outs a lot of times, and (I) just wasn’t able to make that last pitch,” Priester said on AT&T SportsNet after the defeat in Queens. “We just need to be able to put (the pitch) in locations we want to kind of free myself up in those counts.”
Leading 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Priester allowed a two-strike RBI double to Pete Alonso that tied the game. In the second inning, former Pirate Daniel Vogelbach homered to make the score 2-1 New York.
Pete gets us going! ???? pic.twitter.com/kLlbhbQN0B
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 14, 2023
VogelBLAST ???? pic.twitter.com/sX9ErUOUNj
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 14, 2023
Then, with the game tied 2-2 in the third inning, Priester allowed a Jeff McNeil RBI and a Jonathan Araúz homer, both with two outs. The Araúz shot also came with two strikes.
First Mets homer for Jonathan Araúz! ???? pic.twitter.com/PtGqtUBrsh
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 15, 2023
While Priester was struggling to find put-away pitches, the rookie isn’t struggling to come up with reasons why. He pointed directly at his own posture and body tension.
“I feel like I get real stiff and rigid with two strikes,” Priester said during that postgame interview. “I’m really trying to execute rather than just throwing the crap out of it. Whereas, 0-0 until two strikes, I’m just like, ‘Hey, man, here’s my best stuff.’ Ultimately, that’s going to be a separator for me. Once I’m able to do that, I think we’re going to have a lot better results.”
Priester is upset with himself for continually tensing up with two strikes because he knows that he has a defense, particularly on the left side of the diamond, that has good gloves if he can just induce ground balls.
“It’s easy to look behind and see Ke’Bryan (Hayes, 3B) and Alika (Williams, SS) and those guys who constantly remain in place for me. I just, you know, (need a) deep breath and, ‘Hey, man, put the ball in play, and these guys are going to make plays.’ That’s what we need to (do), just execute better and give those guys a better chance.”
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Priester has now allowed 15 hits and 11 runs with two strikes on hitters.
“It comes down to execution,” manager Derek Shelton said after the loss. “Whether it’s trying to do a little bit too much with a pitch or just realizing that he cannot miss in the middle in the big leagues, either way, it’s execution based.”
That seems to be the biggest challenge for Priester right now. Even if “knowing is half the battle,” fixing the problem is the more difficult half of the fight.
This is where the learning curve appears to be the steepest for Priester. And it’s one he needs to flatten before next year rolls around. That’s when the Pirates will likely be counting on him to be at least an effective back-of-the-rotation staple coming out of spring training.
If not more.