The Pittsburgh Pirates announced their Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year on Thursday morning, capping off three days of minor league awards.
Endy Rodriguez was named as the Player of the Year, an award named after the iconic Honus Wagner. Rodriguez has been picking up a lot of recognition lately for his work, including being named as the South Atlantic League MVP yesterday and he was our Player of the Year as well. In 125 games this season split between Greensboro, Altoona and Indianapolis, the 22-year-old Rodriguez hit .323/.407/.590 with 92 runs, 39 doubles, four triples, 25 homers, 95 RBIs and 60 walks. While a majority of his time came as a catcher, he also played second base, left field and first base.
Quinn Priester was named as the Pitcher of the Year, an award named after Pirates great Bob Friend. Priester, who just turned 22 years old, was recently named as our Pitcher of the Year as well. He received this recognition despite beginning the 2022 season on the injured list. He didn’t debut until June 9th and struggled in one of his two rehab starts, then hit the ground running in Altoona. His final Double-A start was a rough one, but the first 14 starts saw him limit the opposition to 0-3 runs in every start, and he only allowed three earned runs once during that time. His overall stats, which included the two rehab outings and two starts for Indianapolis, show a 3.29 ERA in 90.1 innings, with a 1.21 WHIP and a 30:89 BB/SO ratio.
The Pirates named their Teammates and Coach of the year yesterday. Tuesday’s announcement covered the Slugger, Reliever, Defender, and Baserunner of the Year winners.
