Starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks #28 of the Chicago Cubs waves to the crowd (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
As the career of one stellar pitcher in the National League Central starts winding down, his achievements help inspire a blossoming ace on another team within the division. For Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks, 2024 is definitely looking like the end of the line.
Hendricks, the last link to the 2016 Cubs team that ended the 108 year World Series drought, just doesn't have it this year. However, he has served as a major inspiration to the 18th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, Pittsburgh Pirates super-prospect Quinn Priester.
Nicknamed "The Professor," Hendricks claimed the ERA title (2.13) and finished third in Cy Young award voting during the Cubs World Series season of 2016. And he's certainly a good role model for a young local pitcher to look up to.
Priester grew up in Glendale Heights, a northwest suburb of Chicago, where he developed an affinity for the Cubs.
The Professor's professionalism is an inspiration to Priester, who is currently 3-1, with a 3.21 ERA for the Indianapolis Indians, the Pirates AAA affiliate. After making his MLB debut last season, Priester has been going back and forth between the parent club and Indians.
With the big league Pirates this season, Priester is 2-5 with a 4.43 ERA, ahead of the next call-up, which could come within the next few weeks. Priester actually throws a lot harder than Hendricks, as his four seam fastball tops out at about 92 to 94 mph.
It was hitting as high as 97 on the gun when he was drafted out of Cary-Grove high school in '19.
Hendricks doesn't even reach into the 90s with his velocity, but he certainly had (before suffering a shoulder strain) one of the best change-ups in Major League Baseball, especially among starters.
"With what he has, he does it better than anyone else," Priester said in an exclusive interview with RG.
"I could be wrong, and maybe I'm just missing someone, but you don't see guys throwing 86-87 mph fastballs and being as productive as he is."
"He doesn't throw 100 mph like a lot of the starters now, but the dude gets outs, so it's really fun to watch him be surgical with how he pitches and kind of carve lineups up, top to bottom while being extremely efficient."
Priester said he's looking to just be efficient in his baseball career. He wants to get through innings, and get guys out, which is exactly what Hendricks does. He also admires the Cubs starting pitcher's all-business demeanor.
"He would throw a perfect game and you wouldn't see him smile once, that dude is all business."
Priester has a solid repertoire of four pitches, but if he develops his off-speed pitch further, he'll have five.
"Definitely happy with where my stuff is at, my stuff is great and I've learned to trust it," he continued.
"One thing I've continued to work on is the change-up and trying to understand how to take some velocity off that and learn how to command that in the zone. So I think that is the main focus right now- the fast balls and breaking balls feel great. But the change up right now, I think, could be a lot better.
"So ultimately that's what is lacking the most but everything else is playing up well."
Rated the best right-handed pitching prospect in the NL Central division by MLB in 2023, the future is very bright for Priester.
"I don't want to stress about it too much," he concluded. "I just want to keep competing my ass off and throwing what I have that day. I've had some ups and downs this season, but every single outing, I'm learning something new and I'm getting better at something else. And I know that pretty soon here, it's going to show up with really great results."
In addition to Hendricks, Priester said that he also looks up to and tries to learn something from the Texas Rangers' Max Scherzer, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Walker Buehler, and the New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole.
Eventually, down the line, Priester will have to move on to something else other than baseball, and the second act of his life could really take off; literally and figuratively.
His great-grandfather, George J. Priester, founded a company called Priester Aviation, a private jet charter/aircraft management firm located at Chicago Executive (formerly known as Palwaukee) Airport in northwest suburban Wheeling, IL.
George Priester, along with his son Charlie, built the airport up into what it is today. Before the Priester family bought and developed the land, there just wasn't much there.
Quinn, who has substantially gotten into aviation himself, indicated that once his baseball career is over, he may possibly go back to school and fully learn how to fly.
"We'll see where life takes me," he said.
Paul M. Banks is a professional Content Creator whose career has seen bylines in numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Yahoo, MSN, FOX Sports and Sports Illustrated.
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