A Pair of Pirates Prospects Heading to the Futures Game
While the Pittsburgh Pirates begin their build for the future, a lot of the excitement for the team is down in the Minor Leagues. With all four affiliate teams having winning records this season, it is pretty easy to get excited about what these players might do for the Big League club one day. As we head towards the 2021 MLB All-Star Break, the top players across Minor League Baseball will converge on Coors Field in Denver, Colorado for the 2021 MLB Futures Game. In years past, the Pirates have had guys like Mitch Keller, Ke'Bryan Hayes, and Gregory Polanco participate in the event who are now impacting the Big League club. This season, the Pirates have two of their top Minor League pitchers representing the organization in a traditionally hitter-friendly ballpark in Coors Field.
Those pitchers are right-handed pitcher Quinn Priester of the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers (#4 overall prospect) and right-handed pitcher Roansy Contreras of the Double-A Altoona Curve (#19 overall prospect). At the beginning of the season, it was almost a slam dunk that Priester was going to be there given his hot start to his pro career. However, Contreras came to the Pirates in the Jameson Taillon trade and has quickly made a name for himself and is being recognized for his work. The Pirates Minor League system is much improved this year from where it stood a year ago and ranks eighth in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline. These two pitchers represent this rebuilding organization as they will continue to develop and try to bring a championship back to Pittsburgh. Today, we look at both pitchers and their journeys to the 2021 MLB Futures Game.
RHP Roansy Contreras (3-1, 2.00 ERA)
When he came over to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Jameson Taillon trade from the New York Yankees, many fans didn't know much about him. He didn't pitch at all in 2020 due to the pandemic but was coming off of a breakout year in 2019 that saw him go 12-5 with a 3.33 ERA in High-A Ball. However, Contreras was looking to prove to his new organization that those numbers were no fluke and that he was trending in the right direction. Right from the start of Spring Training, Contreras was pitching like he had something to prove. He appeared in two Spring Training games with the Pirates and did not allow a hit in two innings while walking two and striking out five. Because of this, the Pirates decided to promote Contreras to Double-A to start the season.
After beginning 2021 at the Pirates alternate training site, Contreras headed to Double-A for opening night of the Minor Leagues and ended up being named the Opening Night starter. He took the challenge in stride and gained attention from around the league when he went 5.0 scoreless innings while allowing five hits and striking out 11 batters. He was around the strike zone all night long, throwing 68.5% of his pitches for strikes, and ended up not walking a batter in the contest. This outing would set the tone for Contreras's season he has made eight starts for the Curve and has gone 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA in those eight starts. He has allowed three earned runs or less in seven of his eight starts this season and has only allowed more than one run in a game twice this season.
There have been two big keys to Contreras's success this season, the fact that he has been limiting the number of hits he has given up and that he is attacking the strike zone. Over his first eight starts, he has a career-low opponent batting average of just .176. He has allowed only 29 hits this season, and of those 29 hits, only eight of them have gone for extra bases. He hasn't dealt with a lot of jams this season because of that which has helped make his road a little easier this season. The other thing we have seen from Contreras is his ability to use his high-powered stuff to attack the strike zone. He has a strike rate of 68%, and as a result, has walked just nine batters in 45 innings of work. Attacking the strike zone seems to be the key as the Pirates develop their young pitchers, and Contreras has set the standard for that at Double-A this season.
Quinn Priester (3-3, 3.32)
At the beginning of the year, if you would have said Priester was going to make the Future's Game, I might have thought you were crazy. Through his first two starts, Priester was sitting at a 7.71 ERA and he had walked five batters in his first seven innings of work. After a year off, and spending time at the Pirates alternate training site, Priester was a little rusty. He did make two appearances in Spring Training, but even those outings didn't go the way he planned it. He pitched to a 6.75 ERA in 1.1 innings, allowing one earned run on one hit while walking four batters. With control being an issue for Priester during the season, he was focused on finding command of his pitches and getting back to being the dominant right-hander he was in 2019.
Since then, he has made six more starts and has been much more efficient, and has seen better results. He has a 2.32 ERA over his last six starts and because of this has dropped his season ERA to 3.32, a nearly 400 point drop from his second start. While he has made this turnaround, one of the big changes we have seen is in his control. Since those first two starts, he has walked a combined 10 batters over his last six starts, three more than he did in his first two starts combined. He also has found his strikeout pitch over his last four starts, striking out five or more batters in three of the four starts. With his command being so much better, it is making his secondary pitches that much more effective.
One thing that Priester needs to work on through the rest of the season is his heightened opponent batting average. So far this season, opponents are hitting .286 against Priester, and even through his current string of success, he still has dropped his opponent batting average by just seven points. In May, his opponent's batting average sat at a more respectable .227 at the end of the month. In June, that number went up to .286, meaning he allowed a lot of traffic on the base paths. However, because his strikeouts were up, he has been able to get out of jams by relying on his stuff to get swings and misses. Priester and Contreras have both been good for the Pirates this season, and now they are looking to represent their organization on the national stage.
The Pittsburgh Pirates (29-50) reopen PNC Park to full capacity when they welcome in the Milwaukee Brewers (48-33) at 7:05 pm. Wil Crowe (1-4, 6.50) takes the hill coming off of his first MLB win for the Pirates as he faces Corbin Burnes (3-4, 2.53) for the Brewers. You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet, listen on 93.7 The Fan, or follow along with us on Twitter by following @Buccos_Cove.
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