Quinn

Priester

Generally, players do not often return on the optimistic timeline, which means we could be looking at mid-May or later for Priester. However, this whole situation is a bit murky since we know that he is dealing with a nerve issue that’s “in the T.O.S. [thoracic outlet syndrome] family,” but we have little other information. It’s best to avoid him in redraft fantasy leagues right now.

It’s hard to know exactly what to make of that. While you never want to hear thoracic outlet syndrome, Brewers’ manager Pat Murphy told reporters on Thursday that the issue should be treatable without surgery. He also noted that Priester threw lightly on Thursday and has a bullpen session scheduled for March 21. It’s a near lock that he’ll open the season on the injured list, but it’s anyone’s guess at this point on when he may be able to rejoin the Brewers’ rotation.

The Brewers and Priester still have no answers for why he is experiencing soreness in his right wrist. We know that he’s had MRIs on his wrist, shoulder, and elbow, but none of those have seemingly produced any answer, so he will seek another opinion. Having to see a specialist is usually never a great sign for a player’s health, but we’ll wait to see what comes of the visit. It’s looking like Kyle Harrison has a good shot to start the season in the Brewers’ rotation.

It was initially believed that Priester was behind some of the other starters because of wrist discomfort that carried over from last season. However, Murphy said on Thursday that the team was “thinking about even sending him to a specialist now. We’re optimistic that the shoulder MRI, the elbow MRI, everything is good. But something’s keeping him from progressing.” The fact that Priester had MRIs on both his shoulder and his elbow and is also potentially being sent to a specialist suggests that Brewers are not really sure what’s preventing him from being able to let it loose on the mound. At this stage, given the uncertainty, it’s hard to feel good about drafting Priester in fantasy leagues unless you’re in a deep league with multiple IL spots.

The Brewers have been taking it slow with a number of pitchers this spring, but there was no stated reason for their doing so with Priester until now. That the wrist issue has lingered is a surprise; he had one start pushed back because of it at the end of August, but he finished the season just fine from there. If he’s behind at the start of the year, it might not be an IL situation, as the Brewers could just continue to build him up in major league games.

Priester took over after a scoreless frame from opener Aaron Ashby and proceeded to keep the contest remained scoreless into the middle innings. The 25-year-old was the beneficiary of one of the more bizarre double plays in postseason history to end the fourth inning when Max Muncy’s 404-foot fly ball to left-center field came up a few inches short of a grand slam and resulted in mass confusion on the basepaths. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Curt Hogg, it was the first batted ball to travel over 350 feet and result in a ground-ball double play in the pitch tracking era.

Priester was awful from the get, as he gave up a solo homer to Michael Busch to begin his outing, and he was charged for three more runs — two of them after exiting. The 25-year-old was a solid option for Milwaukee for the majority of 2025, but this was ugly. Priester could be a starting option if the Brewers advance to the NLCS, but it’s far from a guarantee.

Priester gets the ball with a chance to propel Milwaukee into the NLCS where they would face either the Dodgers or Phillies. The 25-year-old right-hander, who didn’t end up pitching during the Brewers’ Game 2 win over Chicago, was outstanding in his Brewers debut during the regular season and will be making his first career playoff start on Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field.

Misiorowski’s role heading into the postseason remains a bit unclear following his late-season struggles. However, the hard-throwing 23-year-old and fellow former top prospect Robert Gasser are expected to factor greatly into Milwaukee’s pitching plans with veteran Brandon Woodruff (lat) out of the mix. Jose Quintana, Quinn Priester and Chad Patrick are also on the roster as starting options in the best-of-five series against the division-rival Cubs. The other notable development is Andrew Vaughn getting the nod with Rhys Hoskins being left off the roster entirely.

Priester struck out four batters on the night while issuing one base on balls. He had allowed just one run through the first five innings — an RBI single by Spencer Steer in the fourth inning — but the wheels fell off a bit in the sixth. There, Priester allowed three straight hits to start the frame before turning the ball over to the bullpen. The 25-year-old righty got nine whiffs on 87 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 26 percent. He finishes a terrific regular season with a 13-3 record, 3.32 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and a 132/50 K/BB ratio across 157 1/3 innings in 29 appearances (24 starts).