Endy Rodriguez and Quinn Priester Named Pirates Organizational Award Winners for Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year

Rodriguez earned the organization’s Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year Award and Priester took home the organization's Bob Friend Pitcher-of-the-Year Award

By Jon Mozes

November 10, 2022

CURVE, PA – The Pittsburgh Pirates announced the organization’s award-winners for the Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year Award and Bob Friend Pitcher-of-the-Year Award on Thursday. Catcher Endy Rodriguez earned the organization’s Honus Wagner Play-of-the-Year Award after leading the organization in batting average (.323), on-base percentage (.407), slugging (.590), OPS (.997), hits (148),

CURVE, PA – The Pittsburgh Pirates announced the organization’s award-winners for the Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year Award and Bob Friend Pitcher-of-the-Year Award on Thursday.

Catcher Endy Rodriguez earned the organization’s Honus Wagner Play-of-the-Year Award after leading the organization in batting average (.323), on-base percentage (.407), slugging (.590), OPS (.997), hits (148), doubles (39), and extra base hits (68) in a combined 125 games between Greensboro, Altoona and Indianapolis. Rodriguez played 31 games with the Curve after joining the team in mid-August and batted .356 with 22 extra base hits in just 31 games. Rodriguez homered from both sides of the plate in Altoona's 13-7 win over Akron on Thursday, September 1, marking just the 5th time in franchise history that Altoona had a player homer from both sides of the plate in the same game and first time at PNG Field. Between his promotion to Double-A and the end of Altoona’s regular season he ranked second in doubles (14), second in extra base hits (22), ninth in SLG% (.678), ninth in RBI (32) and ninth in OPS (1.120) among all minor league players. At the conclusion of the 2022 campaign, Rodriguez emerged as one of the industry’s top 100 prospects by both Baseball America (95th) and MLB Pipeline (97th). Rodriguez was also recognized by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline as a first-team All-Star at catcher at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign. The Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year is awarded to the Pirates minor leaguer who had the most impressive overall season. The award is named in honor of the legendary Pirates Hall-of-Fame shortstop who played 2,437 games in a Pirates uniform.

Right-hander Quinn Priester earned the organization’s Bob Friend Pitcher-of-the-Year award after recording the fifth-lowest ERA among all Double-A pitchers between his team debut on June 19 through the end of the regular season with a 2.87 mark. Priester was named the Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Week for the week ending September 11 after he tossed seven scoreless innings at Erie, matching his career-long outing. Priester led all Pirates minor leaguers (minimum 90.0 innings pitched) with a 3.29 ERA (90.1ip/33er) while making a combined 19 starts in 2022 between Bradenton (rehab), Greensboro (rehab), Altoona and Indianapolis. He ranked eighth among all pitchers at the Double-A level during the month of July with a 1.69 ERA. At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Priester was ranked 44th among MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects in the game along with 63rd among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects. The Bob Friend Pitcher-of-the-Year is named in honor of former Pirates right-hander who led the N.L with a 2.83 ERA in 1955.

For tickets and more information, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.