MILWAUKEE ¨C 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 right-handed reliever Grant Wolfram for assignment.
TRADE DETAILS
Brewers acquire: RHP Quinn Priester
Red Sox acquire: OF Yophery Rodriguez, 2025 Competitive Balance Round A Draft pick, player to be named
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. 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.
With their rotation depleted by injuries, Freddy 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.
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.