In the System: Priester superb in Altoona debut

ALTOONA, Pa. -- You know what players look forward to most in spring training?

LEAVING spring training!

So, it was, of course, incredibly frustrating for Quinn Priester to suffer an oblique injury on the very last day of spring training this year, forcing him to hang around in Bradenton for a couple of extra months.

"So frustrating," Priester said. "Just to be honest, like it was the last day of spring. My bags were packed and then, just unfortunately can't control injury type of thing. Then I had to stay in Florida for two months. It was really frustrating just not being able to be with the team and with the guys that I feel I'm really close with.

"That being said, at Pirate City we got some really, really good work in. We were able to improve on a lot of things that, coming up here and being in competition every week, maybe we wouldn't have had the opportunity to. But we made the most of it, and it just was a frustrating, but little bit rewarding process down there. And now that I'm back, it's just really exciting. I'm really happy to be here."

Priester said he was pretty much back to 100 percent after about three extra weeks in Florida, but that didn't mean he was fully ready to pitch.

"Like, I'm young and stupid, so as soon as I felt good enough, I was throwing balls really hard, just intent-wise," he said. "And they were like, 'Hey, let's just relax.'

"This is one that you want to get right the first time because, if it flares up again, now you're talking, we're done. Which is the last thing in the world we wanted."

So, Priester took his time, rehabbed the smart way and waited for the time to come when he could finally get back on the mound and compete.

He got his first chance at low-A Bradenton, tossing the first three innings of a combined no-hitter, then went to high-A Greensboro for his next start. That one didn't go so well last week, as he allowed five runs on six hits in 2.2 innings.

But it was on to Altoona anyway, and Priester made his Class AA debut Sunday with the Curve. He was terrific, tossing three scoreless innings, allowing one hit with three strikeouts and one hit batter.

"Today was a big first step for getting the feet wet in this league, and just for confidence it's really good," Priester said after his Altoona debut.

"There's still a lot to build on, obviously not going three innings," he added. "My goal is six, seven, eight. That second time through (the order) is going to be a big deal, so just being consistent and being able to do whatever I want, throw whatever I want in whatever count -- kind of like I did today -- is going to be really important.

“As long as I can keep that going and keep working on the things that are working now, I think I'm going to have a really good year."

The bad news was that he had to stay in Florida longer and delay the start of his season.

But the good news is that he spent that extra time in Florida fine tuning some mechanics that could help him out over the long haul.

"When I had the oblique injury, we sat down and said hey, obviously we had success last year and had a good year, it was like, there's a few things that we can clean up that are gonna take stress off your oblique and your arm," Priester said. "And I was like, well, that sounds pretty good, so let's do it and let's see how it works. And it works.

"So we just started working more into the hips and just trying to stay through, directionally, just stay through the plate, everything working through the middle of the plate, just kind of letting stuff break away and really keeping things as simple as possible. I think we did that well, and there's still a lot of getting better to do and a lot of cleaning things up to do. But I think we're at a good point right now and, and then ultimately just we have really good foundation to keep building off of."

TOP 10 PROSPECTS

This is the new DKPS top-10 ranking of the Pirates' prospects, as selected -- and debated -- by our baseball staff of Alex Stumpf, Chris Halicke, Jarrod Prugar and myself. 

Each week, we'll move players up and down as warranted, though the final ranking's always intended to reflect the overarching potential for their performance upon arriving in Pittsburgh, rather than being a short-term hot/cold list.  Also, if they're in the majors, even on an emergency basis, they won't be on this list. It's for players in the minors.

We basically just moved everyone up one spot this week after No. 1 Oneil Cruz was called up to the majors, although Quinn Priester moved up two spots. We also had to add a new player to the top 10, so check and see who it is below.

1. HENRY DAVIS (2)

Position: Catcher
Affiliate: Class AA Altoona
Acquired: Pirates' first-round pick, 2021
Age: 22
Stats: .278/.413/.496, 6 HR, 24 RBIs

Davis takes over the top spot this week after the promotion of Oneil Cruz to the Pirates. Last year's overall No. 1 draft pick certainly has tremendous upside and got off to a great start this season at Greensboro. But Davis has struggled with Altoona, as he's just 3-for-28 in eight games at Class AA. It's a tiny sample size, of course, so no one should read too much into a measly eight games. Davis has had a lot of competitive at-bats, even when he's gotten out. The lightning-quick swing and power are still there, and Davis likely will figure things out very soon and have a strong offensive season with the Curve. The only question, though, could be if any of the crazy HBP stuff from this season lingers with him and forces him to change things in the batter's box. When you get hit 15 times in your first 100 or so ABs, it can take a toll on a hitter -- mentally and/or physically. So we'll see how Davis handles things here this week and if he ends his mini slump in a hurry.

How about we relive the moment when Davis was drafted first overall last year?

2. MIKE BURROWS (3)

Position: Right-handed pitcher
Affiliate: Class AAA Indianapolis
Acquired: Pirates' 11th-round pick, 2018
Age: 22
Stats: 4-2, 3.11 ERA, 1.109 WHIP, 73 K, 19 BB

He had a rough final start for Altoona, giving up five runs in 1.1 IP, but still got promoted to Indy after that contest. He then gave up two runs on four hits over three innings in his Class AAA debut, striking out four with no walks. Burrows didn't really face much adversity with Altoona, but he will run into some in Class AAA. Hey, adversity is good for any prospect, and we'll see how he's able to handle it and bounce back now that he's just one step away from the majors.

3. LIOVER PEGUERO (4)

Position: Shortstop
Affiliate: Class AA Altoona
Acquired: Trade with Diamondbacks, 2020
Age: 21
Stats: .292/.315/.469, 5 HRs, 33 RBIs

He got an unexpected call-up to the majors and recorded his first hit in his MLB debut for the Pirates on Saturday. But then he got sent back to Altoona, so it was a wild and crazy week for the talented young prospect. He'll likely remain with the Curve for the rest of the season, and even though Cruz is now with the Pirates, it's still possible that Peguero will be the shortstop of the future.

4. QUINN PRIESTER (6)

Position: Right-handed pitcher
Affiliate: Class AA Altoona
Acquired: Pirates' first-round pick, 2019
Age: 21
Stats: 0-0, 5.19 ERA, .923 WHIP, 7 K, 1 BB

The only reason we had dropped Priester as low as No. 6 is because he wasn't pitching. Now that he's pitching, he could rise right back near the top very soon if he lives up to his potential.

5. NICK GONZALES (5)

Position: Second base
Affiliate: Class AA Altoona
Acquired: Pirates' first-round pick, 2020
Age: 23
Stats: .247/.366/.377, 4 HR, 15 RBIs

UPDATE: Gonzales has been transferred from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL by the Pirates. He has not played since May 31 because of a heel injury. There had been some hope that Gonzales was making good progress and would return to action soon, but that will not be the case. Gonzales got off to a slow start this season and was striking out at a high rate, but he had turned some things around prior to his injury. He batted .266 with two homers, five doubles and nine RBIs in May.

6. ANTHONY SOLOMETO (7)

Position: Left-handed pitcher
Affiliate: Low Class A Bradenton
Acquired: Pirates' second-round pick, 2021
Age: 19
Stats: 1-0, 2.08 ERA, 1.077 WHIP, 13 K, 5 BB

He made one start last week, giving up two runs on three hits in two innings with three strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter. In 10 IP over three outings this month, he has held opposing hitters to a .167 average.

7. ENDY RODRIGUEZ (8)

Position: Utility
Affiliate: High Class A Greensboro
Acquired: Trade with Mets/Padres, 2021
Age: 22
Stats: .251/.338/.436, 7 HRs, 26 RBIs

He's hit well lately, reaching base in 11 straight games and going 7-for-24 (.292) with a .900 OPS over his last eight games. He also had one homer, two doubles and five RBIs in that span.

8. JI-HWAN BAE (9)

Position: Utility
Affiliate: Class AAA Indianapolis
Acquired: International free agent, 2018
Age: 22
Stats: .304/.373/.478, 6 HRs, 31 RBIs

He's batting .328 this month, which is the fourth-highest batting average in the International League. He continues to be a very intriguing prospect who continues to fly under the radar, and the Pirates may not be able to overlook his offensive success much longer.

9. JARED JONES (10)

Position: Right-handed pitcher
Affiliate: High Class A Greensboro
Acquired: Pirates' second-round pick, 2020
Age: 20
Stats: 2-3, 5.13 ERA, 1.462 WHIP, 69 K, 25 BB

He made one start last week and gave up three runs on four hits over five innings, striking out seven with two walks. He's got 69 strikeouts in 52.2 IP, and that kind of great arm is the reason he'll always be a candidate to be on this list.

10. BUBBA CHANDLER (NR)

Position: Right-handed pitcher, infielder
Affiliate: Florida Complex League Pirates
Acquired: Pirates' third-round pick, 2021
Age: 19
Pitching stats: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.200 WHIP, 9 K, 3 BB
Hitting stats: .400/.500/.800, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs

One of the most intriguing prospects in all the minors, the two-way standout is off to a good start at the plate and on the mound in rookie ball. He hit his second home run of the season Monday and has been outstanding thus far. He was an easy choice to be added to this week's top 10, and if he keeps all this up, he will be ranked much higher by season's end.

HONORABLE MENTION

* Matt Gorski: He's up to 22 home runs between Greensboro (17) and Altoona (5), and he drilled a 460-foot smash last week. He's definitely in the Pirates' top 20 prospects now, and if he keeps it up, he could crack our top 10 before too long. We have a good discussion about Gorski in the third segment of this week's Young Bucs podcast below.