Brewers acquire Priester for prospect, Draft pick in trade with Red Sox

MILWAUKEE – With a pretty solid starting rotation sidelined on the injured list, the Brewers are adding another live arm to their Major League pitching staff.

Milwaukee made a trade Monday for 24-year-old right-hander Quinn Priester, sending its No. 7 prospect per MLB Pipeline, outfielder Yophery Rodriguez, to the Red Sox plus a Draft pick in Competitive Balance Round A and a player to be named. Priester ranked 60th on MLB Pipeline’s list of baseball’s top prospects as recently as 2023.

Priester will be with the Brewers when they open their series at Colorado on Tuesday night. To clear a spot on a full 40-man roster, Milwaukee designated left-handed reliever Grant Wolfram for assignment, then traded him to Baltimore later in the day for Minor League outfield depth in 28-year-old Daz Cameron, a former first-round Draft pick who has played in the Majors for the Tigers and A’s, and is the son of former Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron.

TRADE DETAILS
Brewers acquire: RHP Quinn Priester
Red Sox acquire: OF Yophery Rodriguez, 2025 Competitive Balance Round A Draft pick, player to be named

TRADE DETAILS
Brewers acquire: OF Daz Cameron and cash
Orioles acquire: LHP Grant Wolfram

“The injuries weren’t the only factor in this acquisition,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said of picking up Priester. “We really think this move helps us now and in the future. Our scouts have liked Priester going back to high school.”

Pitching is in short supply for the Brewers, who on Sunday added left-hander Nestor Cortes (elbow) to an injured list that already included right-handers Tobias Myers (oblique), Aaron Civale (hamstring) and Brandon Woodruff (shoulder surgery rehab), as well as left-handers Aaron Ashby (oblique), DL Hall (lat) and Robert Gasser (elbow surgery rehab). All of those pitchers have experience as Major League starting pitchers.

That’s the role in which Priester has appeared most during a pro career that began when the Pirates picked him 18th overall in the first round of the 2019 Draft out of Cary-Grove (Ill.) High School, where Priester was a multi-sport star with the sort of athleticism the Brewers have been able to tap into with other recent pitching projects. He graduated from prospect status after pitching 50 innings for the Pirates in 2023, and made 10 more appearances for Pittsburgh in ‘24 before being dealt to the Red Sox for utility man Nick Yorke at the Trade Deadline.

Priester has appeared in 21 games (15 starts) in the Majors for the Pirates and Red Sox, posting a 6.23 ERA and 41 walks versus 69 strikeouts in 99 2/3 innings. Over his Minor League career, he is 26-17 with a 3.61 ERA in 87 games (84 starts) while recording 428 strikeouts in 408 2/3 innings, including a four-inning start for Triple-A Worcester in his season debut on Thursday.

“Having that kind of experience at a young age – how many guys have we seen come up to the Major League level and hit a roadblock over the years with us?” Arnold said. “Whether that’s Woody or Corbin Burnes or Freddy [Peralta], they all hit bumps along the way and they were all extremely talented.

“That’s what we believe we’re getting, not to put any unfair pressure on the kid here. But he really does have a great arm with a lot of good ingredients. There's a lot to like here. From all accounts, he is a really cerebral kid and open to making adjustments.”

“He’s a good kid,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “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.”

With their rotation depleted by injuries, Peralta is the only pitcher currently starting for the Brewers who was expected to do so at the start of Spring Training. Rookie Chad Patrick has been effective in a pair of starts, picking up his first Major League win on Sunday against the Reds, but another right-hander, Elvin Rodriguez, has fallen behind early in each of his two outings. The Brewers also gave one start to swingman Tyler Alexander, who delivered 5 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings on Friday.

Peralta is scheduled to start Tuesday night in Denver, but as of Monday, the Brewers had not named any probable starters beyond that. Assuming Alexander stays in the rotation and starts again Wednesday, that would open Thursday’s series finale against the Rockies as one possible debut day for Priester. Then Jose Quintana is expected to make his season debut on Friday at Arizona, and Myers and Civale are expected back before the end of April.

Rodriguez, 19, earned the Brewers’ top signing bonus ($1.5 million) in the January 2023 international class and has already made it to the High-A Midwest League to begin ‘25. He was 5-for-12 with a double and a triple in his first three games with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers this season.

The Draft pick going to Boston with Rodriguez is No. 33 overall. But the Brewers still have five picks in the Top 100 selections:

No. 20 (first round)
No. 32 (comp for departed free agent Willy Adames)
No. 59 (second round)
No. 68 (comp for unsigned 2024 Draft pick Chris Levonas)
No. 94 (third round)

“Priester was a first-round pick, so we feel like we’re sort of accelerating that [traded] pick into something more advanced,” Arnold said. “While our scouts are high on the pick, they’re also high on this player we’re getting for the big league team. And we still have four of the top 68 picks. That’s a lot of Draft capital.”