Rastall Ramblings:Priester Latest Example of Brewers Finding Diamond in the Rough

When it comes to the Milwaukee Brewers pitching lab, they can, in fact, keep getting away with it.

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold and the front office ruffled some feathers among a portion of the fanbase back in April when he acquired right-handed pitcher Quinn Priester from the Boston Red Sox.

At the time of the trade, his brief MLB career was nothing to write home about. He had posted a 6.46 ERA with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 20 games across 2023 and 2024, then made just a single appearance with the Boston Red Sox at the end of last season before starting this year in the minor leagues.

When the Brewers traded for Priester — giving up outfield prospect Yophery Rodriguez in the process — some fans criticized it as an overpay and a bit of a panic move given how injury-plagued the team’s starting rotation was at the time. In theory, it seemed like a stopgap move of having the 23-year-old Priester eat some innings, then wind up back down in the minors where they’d try to iron some things out to make him into a potentially effective major leaguer over the long term.

Instead, he’s making an excellent impact here and now.

Since giving up a total of 12 runs across 9 1/3 innings in back-to-back starts against the Cardinals and the Cubs in late April and early May, Priester has been nothing short of electric.

In his last eight starts, Priester he’s posted an ERA of 2.23, has allowed exactly one run in six of those appearances and gone at least five innings in each. If you look at just his last five starts, he’s tossed 29 innings and allowed only six runs, striking out 21 while walking only four in the process.

Priester has been so effective that when the Brewers called up heralded pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski for his MLB debut last week, it was Aaron Civale that got the boot from the rotation and into the bullpen, starting the quick chain of events involving Civale requesting a trade and the Brewers responding by sending him to the pits of Hell (playing for the Chicago White Sox).

Whatever magic the Brewers cook up in their vaunted pitching lab, they’ve seemed to utilize it again with Priester. His arsenal consisting mostly of a slider, a sinker and a cutter has been sublime, yielding barely any walks and consistently inducing grounders. We’ll see how he holds up in the weeks ahead, but it’s looking like the franchise has once against found a diamond in the rough for their starting rotation.