Craig Breslow improved his current baseball team before the MLB trade deadline on July 30. He also set the Boston Red Sox up for the future, as has been the front office's priority in recent seasons.
The Red Sox acquired 2019 first-round pick Quinn Priester from the Pirates in exchange for No. 6 prospect Nick Yorke. Andy McCollough of The Athletic believes the trade for Priester may have been Boston's best before the deadline.
Priester no longer carries prospect status due to the quantity of big-league experience he accumulated with the Pirates, which gives McCollough and Breslow a good assessment of his weaknesses. McCollough suggests his fastball velocity needs work and that the Red Sox hope to increase his changeup usage, an Andrew Bailey special.
If Boston can make those changes to Priester's arsenal, McCollough believes he "could be a force on the big-league roster for years to come." Breslow agrees, and he has for some time.
MLB insider names Quinn Priester trade as Red Sox's standout deadline move
Red sox prospect updates
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) August 6, 2024
-Quinn Priester’s tough debut
-Mikey Romero’s 16-for-30 (.533) week
-David Sandlin’s strong start in Double A
-Breslow on potential promotions looming and morehttps://t.co/hrmQwInErM
“He’s a guy that I followed for a long time, actually going back to my Cubs days,” Breslow said to Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. “Think he’s an extreme strike thrower, induces weak contact, keeps the ball off the barrel of the bat. He’s still young and projectable."
His first start in a WooSox uniform wasn't his best. Priester allowed eight runs on six hits and four walks in his Worcester debut. But Priester is under team control until the 2030 season, which gives the Red Sox organization plenty of time to meet its goals for the young righty.
Bailey and Boston's pitching coaching staff brought the best out of Tanner Houck in just a few months, and Priester could post an equally impressive transformation.