Why New Red Sox Pitcher Could Thrive In Boston After Trade From Pirates

The Boston Red Sox entered the trade deadline likely looking to make moves to improve the 2024 team in the middle of a playoff race.

There’s still time to do that before Tuesday evening at 6 p.m., but Boston kept its eyes on the future in a deal involving a pair of former first-round selections.

The Red Sox on Monday acquired pitcher Quinn Priester from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for infield prospect Nick Yorke. Boston dealt from depth and added another intriguing arm for Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey to dissect and improve in an internal pitching development program for the Red Sox.

Priester has all of his potential in front of him. He’s still just 23 years old after the Pirates selected him in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of high school. On the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, the right-hander began to build some progress.

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The newest Red Sox arm holds a 25-15 career record in the minors while striking out over a batter per inning to the tune of a 3.41 ERA. He’s been productive at Triple-A Indianapolis while struggling at the MLB level over two seasons with a 6.46 ERA across 20 big-league appearances and 14 starts.

To that point, the Red Sox did the right thing and promptly optioned him to Triple-A Worcester once the trade went through, ensuring a literal prospect swap from where Yorke was in the Boston system.

So, what will the Red Sox hope to unlock with Priester?

Drawing from the philosophies Bailey instills in Boston’s staff, there are reasons to see why the Red Sox may like what Priester sports on the mound.

Boston’s pitchers have moved off of throwing four-seam fastballs and prioritized throwing their best pitches most often and challenging hitters in-zone. Priester primarily features a sinker-slider combination and relies on a high ground-ball rate, quality off-speed stuff and expanding the zone against opposing hitters.

The Red Sox likely hope to see Priester generate more swings-and-misses and he only struck out around six batters per nine innings across his MLB time with the Pirates. That may not be in his current profile, which is fine if he continues to induce weak contact and live on the ground by playing into his sinker as a primary pitch of attack.

Boston still needs to add more to a staff needing arms by Tuesday’s trade deadline. In the meantime, the Red Sox took a chance on an investment for the future, and maybe the not-so-distant one.