Several games into his Milwaukee Brewers career, when Quinn Priester allowed five and seven runs in back-to-back outings, the fanbase naturally trolled the early-season trade pickup for getting hammered by opposing batters. One month later, he has them issuing apologies.
Relieving opener DL Hall, Priester tossed five innings of one-run, two-hit ball to secure Wednesday’s 9-1 win over the Reds, lowering his ERA to 3.88 this season. Over his last six appearances, he has been deceptively dominant, pitching to a 2.51 mark across 32 1/3 innings. Repenting their lack of faith, fans are back on his side, going from ridicule to reverence. As one social media commenter put it, “Respect Father Quinn.”
Unheralded Trade Pays Dividends for Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers acquired Priester back in early April as insurance against a deluge of injuries in the rotation. Some of Milwaukee’s injured arms, including veterans Aaron Civale and Jose Quintana, have now returned to the mound. But Priester has pitched well enough that sending him to the minors to make room for incumbent starters has not been an obvious move. In fact, after several poor starts, the Brewers elected to demote Tobias Myers, last year’s outstanding rookie, instead.
Even in his recent stretch, Priester’s success is somewhat puzzling. Sure, he has limited the damage by allowing only 22 hits, but a low K/BB ratio could be cause for concern: in his last 32 1/3, Priester has recorded a modest 10 walks but only 19 strikeouts. In this day and age, anyone who strikes out less than a batter per inning is behind the 8-ball. He has also surrendered three homeruns, so it’s not as if hitters haven’t ever squared him up.
His overall numbers reflect the same picture. On the season, covering 55 2/3 innings, Priester has issued 26 walks while whiffing only 36. It surely won’t help convert skeptics that he owns a career ERA of 5.51 in three seasons.
Fans Fawning over Priester
Priester’s effectiveness might not last, but still, success is success. A sub-3 ERA stretch is nothing to thumb your nose at. Many fans gave Priester his dues in the comment section of the Brewers’ team-page post.
“King,” one simply said.
“Let the haters hear it,” preached another acolyte.
“He’s been dealing. Take off the training wheels.”
“But…but Brewers Twitter said he needed to be DFA’d ASAP.”
One person admitted, “He’s working his way into an apology by a lot of people. Me included lol.”
Another visitor to the confession booth: “I’ve apologized before but I will do it again. I’m sorry for doubting this trade.”
No one is counting on Priester to win the Cy Young, but he has provided critical stability to a ravaged rotation just now taking form with the returns of Civale and Quintana. Unfortunately, Brandon Woodruff took a ball to the elbow during Tuesday’s rehab start, so he may be a while making his season debut. Nestor Cortes is not projected back back until after the All-Star break. If Priester holds down the fort, continuing to manage their absences will bet that much easier.
After rookie Chad Patrick, Priester has arguably supplied the best unexpected boost to the rotation. A fivesome of Peralta, Patrick, Civale, Quintana and Priester isn’t what the Brewers drew up in spring training, but as the saying goes, don’t fix what isn’t broken. Amen.
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