Three Great First Impressions: The Debuts of Jose Quintana, Quinn Priester, and Caleb Durbin

Jose Quintana
Signed as a free agent in early March, Quintana stayed out west in ‘extended spring training’ to get ready for the season. The Brewers expected him to miss two starts and return in mid-April. In the meantime, the Brewers had scrambled back to a 7-6 record, one game behind the Chicago Cubs in second place in the National League Central division.

On April 11, the southpaw made his Brewers debut against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. He allowed a single in each of the first two innings but got out unscathed thanks to a pair of 6-4-3 twin killings. He picked off Jake McCarthy in the third inning to end a potential threat and then retired nine consecutive D-Backs.

With the Brewers leading 3-0, Quintana went out for the seventh inning and gave up a lead-off single. Despite a balk that moved the runner to second, Quintana got the final out of the inning, ending his night on the hill. Effective and efficient, Quintana gave up four hits and struck out a pair on just 80 pitches. FanGraphs ranks a pitcher’s Game Score that falls between 70-80 as ‘Great.’ Quintana’s Game Score was 71.

In his second outing five nights later against the Tigers at Am Fam Field, Quintana struggled early, walking three in the first but getting out without damage thanks to another double play. The Tigers had three players reach base in the next three innings but Quintana kept the Tigers off the scoreboard until the sixth, when he gave up a solo home run to Spencer Torkelson. He gave way to Abner Uribe two batters later. The Brewers got a 5-1 win on the strength of homers by Christian Yelich, Rhys Hoskins, and Sal Frelick. Quintana went 5.2 innings, allowing four hits, one run, and three walks while striking out four.

Two games, two wins. Not a bad debut.

Quinn Priester
Priester was acquired in a trade with the Boston Red Sox in early April for Yophery Rodriguez, a player to be named later, and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick. The merits of the trade will be discussed over beers for the next few months, but if Priester can pitch to his potential, the grumbling should come to an end.

The 6-foot-3 right-hander scuffled in his first outing in Denver against the Colorado Rockies on April 10, allowing six hits, one run, and two walks in a 7-2 loss. Priester left after five frames with the score tied at one, only to see Joel Payamps implode in a five-run eighth inning.

Priester’s Am Fam Field debut on April 15 went better as he allowed four baserunners (one hit, three walks) in five innings while striking out four. While not as efficient as Quintana’s first start for Milwaukee, Priester threw 84 pitches and posted a Game Score of 66, which FanGraphs judges as ‘Good.’ He held the Tigers hitless until Gleyber Torres’ double to right-center to lead off the sixth inning. Manager Pat Murphy removed Priester at that point to a nice round of applause from the home crowd.

Hopefully there will be a lot more of that in the coming weeks.

Caleb Durbin
After being recalled from Triple-A Nashville to replace the disappointing Oliver Dunn, Durbin made his major league debut on April 18 before a couple dozen family and friends at Am Fam Field. Batting ninth and playing third base, Durbin collected his first big-league hit in the third inning on a grounder to the left side. He grounded out in the fifth but then got his second knock on a looping liner to short left-center field in the seventh. He scored his first run on a Yelich groundout. Durbin finished up his first game by lining a ball to deep left-center that was caught by JJ Bleday in the eighth inning. Durbin flawlessly handled four chances in the field.

All in all, it’s a nice debut for the 25-year-old.

Going Forward
Quintana and Priester add stability to a starting staff that was decimated by injuries in the spring. What happens when Brandon Woodruff, Tobias Myers, et al. are ready to return? I don’t know, but that will be a good problem that Murphy will have to sort out.

And Durbin? Hopefully the diminutive speedster can solve the third base problem that has plagued the Brewers all spring.

How do you feel about Quintana, Priester, and Durbin? Please let us know in the comments section and thanks for reading!