Priester 'really excited' to be with the Brewers makes team debut on Thursday

(GETTY IMAGES)

The Brewers were desperate for starting pitching due to their starting rotation being plagued with injuries early on this season and traded for Quinn Priester.

Milwaukee traded outfield prospect Yophery Rodriguez, a Competitive Balance Round A pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, and a player to be named later or cash consideration to the Red Sox for Priester.

The former Sox righty made his debut for the Brewers on Thursday against the Rockies. Despite the Brewers losing the game 7-2 to Colorado, Priester made a good first impression with his new club.

Priester pitched five strong innings, giving up one run on five hits while walking two and striking out four batters.

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“It was a good start,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said to reporters after the game. “I was impressed with him, and he competed. He’s got some work to do to be a full-time Major League pitcher, and he knows that. But he did the job.”

The 2019 first-round pick was shocked when he learned the Red Sox traded him but was excited by the idea of being back in the big leagues.

“At first, [I was] shocked, and then really, really excited,” Priester said after arriving in Denver Tuesday. “I grew up about an hour and 15 minutes south of American Family Field, and my family is really, really excited, because they know this will be a chance they get to see me, and I get to see them a lot more often. It’s a team that I grew up watching a lot.”

Priester will pitch in the National League Central and will eventually face off against his former club, the Pirates and the Cubs, who he grew up rooting for.

“I grew up on the wrong side in the division,” Priester said of his background as a Cubs fan. “But nonetheless, I loved going to the games, either at Wrigley or, at the time, Miller Park. It's really exciting to be a part of this team.”

Priester’s fastball has been topping out at 97 mph, and he’s been trying to get opposing batters to hit the ball on the ground while with the Brewers.

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“Keeping the ball down and changing speeds with the slider, the curveball, and changing looks off that sinker with the changeup,” he explained of his repertoire. “There's a lot of things that I can do and do really well that makes me a great starter. Ultimately, those strengths are what we're going to capitalize on. As I continue to grow, get older, get bigger, I have no doubts that the velocity is going to stay where it's at.”Priester entered the 2025 season as one club’s top depth options for the rotation, but he failed to make the opening-day roster out of camp. The Red Sox opted for left-hander Sean Newcomb and right-hander Richard Fitts as starters over Priester to fill in for Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito while they are rehabbing back from the injured list.

Priester came into camp and quickly impressed Alex Cora with the work he put in the offseason, citing that the righty looked “stronger.” After the Red Sox acquired Priester from Pittsburgh, the team quickly had him work on adding size and increasing his velocity.

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“I think that’s kind of dealing from a position of strength,” said Cora. “As an organization, we have to do what’s best. He’s a good kid. He did everything that we asked him to do in the offseason. He came into Spring Training a lot stronger. He had a good Spring Training. But this is where we’re at right now."

WooSox pitching coach Dan DeLucia discussed Priester working on some biomechanical stuff between starts in the hopes of getting more uptick on his fastball, and he will throw his changeup more to mix it in with his other weapons. DeLucia stressed that he wanted Priester to change his pitch grips and work on his key pitches, like his slider.

Despite the work he put in the winter, Priester had an average spring, posting a 4.82 ERA over four appearances. Priester surrendered 14 hits and walked seven batters in 9 1/3 innings of work.