Red Sox ‘Likely To’ Debut Exciting Pitcher In Season Finale

The Red Sox are playing out the string, but they've given fans a reason to tune into their series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.

Boston appears to be sending Quinn Priester to the hill.

Priester was placed on the taxi squad Saturday, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive, lining him up to start Sunday. Red Sox manager Alex Cora ruled out Brayan Bello and Tanner Houck being used in the regular-season finale, and said it was "likely" Priester would be debuting for the club, according to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.

Priester was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 29, swapping him out for infield prospect Nick Yorke prior to the trade deadline. The Red Sox sent the 24-year-old to Triple-A Worcester following the trade, which ultimately bought them an extra year of control and keeps the right-hander under contract through 2030.

"I think he's still young and projectable," Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said following the trade. "... If you threw him into our Triple-A rotation, I think he'd be among the youngest, if not the youngest pitcher there.

"We firmly believe that if we get him in our infrastructure, his best years are ahead of him. There's a lot of potential to work with. He's got a pretty deep mix and he throws strikes with five different pitches. We feel like adding some strength, working on the delivery a little bit and tweaking some of the pitches hopefully will get the best out of him."

Priester has a 5.40 ERA and across 38.1 innings covering nine starts with Triple-A Worcester. He has a 6.46 ERA with 67 strikeouts in 94 2/3 innings in the big leagues.

The Red Sox and Rays will collectively end their seasons Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET on NESN, following an hour of pregame coverage.