Champ or Chump: Quinn Priester and Simeon Woods Richardson Fantasy Baseball Outlooks

The 2024 fantasy baseball season is officially underway, and the injury bug is already spreading quite fast.

Given the rapid rate at which pitchers are being placed on the injured list, fantasy managers must be proactive in managing their roster. This may involve delving deeper into the waiver wire to find suitable replacements.

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Quinn Priester and Minnesota Twins pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson have joined their teams' respective rotations for the time being, and I will analyze whether they are champs or chumps.

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Quinn Priester (SP, PIT) 6% Rostered

After having a rough major league debut in 2023 with a hefty 7.74 ERA and 1.70 WHIP across 50 innings last season with 36 punchouts.

As a result, the 23-year-old opened the season at Triple-A and performed quite similarly to his 2023 minor league production. This season, he pitched to a 3.95 ERA and 1.24 WHIP; last season, he posted a 4.00 ERA and 1.33 WHIP with Triple-A Indianapolis.

However, due to the injury to Marco Gonzales (forearm), Priester was given another shot in the big leagues. 

After a disappointing first outing against the Boston Red Sox, in which he allowed four earned runs across four ⅓ innings, he bounced back quite nicely on April 26th against the San Francisco Giants.

Priester tossed six shutout innings in this outing with only three hits and one free pass. He struck out six.

6 Ks, 6 scoreless innings for Quinn Priester 🔥 #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/ScoPlZnYAa

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) April 27, 2024

This was a big turnaround and his most successful outing at the major league level of his career in which Priester generated 14 swinging strikes.

A look under the hood suggests that his curveball, which he uses quite often, has greatly improved and could develop into one of his best pitches.

His curveball had a .289 xBA last season, but it has a stellar .163 xBA this year. The curveball generated a 30.6% whiff rate in 2023 but sports a 42.9% whiff rate this year.

While it looks like Priester is beginning to figure things out, he has only shown fantasy managers one strong outing in his major league career and top prospect Paul Skenes is on the verge of a promotion and could very well claim the final rotation spot. 

As a result, fantasy managers should steer clear of this Chump in standard leagues.

Simeon Woods Richardson (SP, MIN) 16% Rostered

After Louie Varland struggled to open the season and was sent down to Triple-A, the Twins recalled Simeon Woods Richardson from Triple-A to fill the fifth-start void. 

Woods Richardson got off to a slow start with Triple-A, but that has not seemed to affect his performance in the majors. He has pitched to the tune of a strong 2.45 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. He tallied just under a strikeout per inning with 13 in 14 ⅔.

Woods Richardson made his first start of the season on April 13, throwing six innings of one-run ball against the Detroit Tigers. He carried his momentum in his next start has he allowed two runs across five innings against the Chicago White Sox.

Simeon Woods Richardson, Filthy 89mph Slider...and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/ceX4LFfgps

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 25, 2024

The 23-year-old ran into some trouble in his third start on April 30, where he surrendered seven hits and one earned run in three ⅔ innings in a rematch against the White Sox.

Woods Richardson does not have electric swing-and-miss potential but does have great control and a well above-average 6.3% walk rate. 

While his third outing was a bit rough, I give him the benefit of the doubt that he pitched very well in his first two starts. With his excellent walk rate and stable hold on the fifth spot in the Twins rotation, he should be viewed as a Champ in standard leagues. 

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