The Milwaukee Brewers traded for Quinn Priester on April 7 amid a slew of injuries in the starting rotation. Nestor Cortes, out. Aaron Civale, out. Jose Quintana, unavailable for conditioning reasons. Priester was only supposed to be temporary insurance, but even then, fans were not excited.
Why did the Brewers bother trading for a pitcher in Boston’s minor-league system with a 6.23 ERA in 99.2 MLB innings? Why sacrifice a prospect of any status, outfielder Yophery Rodriguez, for the likes of a Quinn Priester?
Flash forward to season’s end. Although Priester struggled in the playoffs, he was a crucial fixture in the Brewers’ regular-season rotation – in many ways, their No. 2 starter behind Freddy Peralta. More than just a stopgap, Priester kept them afloat as injuries and exhaustion persisted.
He made it easy on the Baseball Writers Association of America as the obvious choice for best Brewers Newcomer. Not just in Milwaukee but in all of baseball, it would be difficult to find another player more deserving of his team’s award.
Priester’s transformation falls nothing short of miraculous
It didn’t take long for the trade to seemingly vindicate disdainful fans. Priester allowed only three earned runs in his first 14 innings, but followed up a solid start by getting shelled in his next two outings: 12 ER in 9.1 IP.
From that point on, Priester posted a 2.89 ERA in 134 innings, conjuring a parade of groundballs off opposing bats. He quickly gained support, as well as widespread apologies from his initial skeptics, and became a fan favorite.
Priester, not Peralta, led the team in seven-inning starts, four to one. He finished second on the team in innings pitched (157.1), second in WAR (3.0), second in wins (13-3) with a 3.32 ERA on the season. The Brewers won 19 straight games in which Priester started or followed an opener as the de facto starting pitcher.
He did not fare well in his first start of the postseason. The Cubs knocked him out in the first inning and Priester was charged with four runs. But he rebounded in his next outing, in the NLCS against the Dodgers, allowing no runs in four innings.
Overall, it’s about as successful a season as could be imagined for the 25-year-old right-hander beloved for his consistent starts, accountability for his flaws, and, of course, his sandy-ginger shock of hair liable to take on a cockatoo-like crest in postgame interviews.
To win the newcomer award, Priester had to beat out a pair of teammates with strong cases as well. Rookie Caleb Durbin, who proved to be the gem of the Devin Williams-for Cortes trade. First baseman Andrew Vaughn, who much like Priester, albeit later in the season, arrived with low expectations en route to becoming a key contributor.
Despite admirable resumes from both Vaughn and Durbin, Priester feels like the clear choice based on volume of work and overall success. Who would have thought Priester, not Cortes or even Quintana, would be the Brewers’ starting-pitcher get of the season?
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