BRADENTON, Fla. -- All available eyes were fixated on the Honus Wagner Field mound at Pirate City. With every fastball that Quinn Priester fired, every breaking ball he snapped, the energy only grew in its vibrance. As far as live at-bats went, this was must-see viewing.

The stage that Preister, ranked as the No. 49 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, occupied was small. Only a couple dozen were in attendance. The pressure, the attention, though, were tangible, if not small. Preister has an awareness that eyes are on him; not just in that moment, but in the grand scheme of Pittsburgh’s rebuild. He does not want to run from it. Rather, he invites it.

"I’ve already put it on my shoulders,” Priester said.

The “it” that Priester describes is the burden of expectation. He wants to prove detractors wrong, to affirm those who believe in his talents. He wants to be the one with the ball in the most important moments. Game 1s. Game 7s. Those are the long-term goals that both Priester and the Pirates want to see actualized.

With that future in mind, Priester also recognizes the need to be present. Before he can be great in Pittsburgh, he must be great with Double-A Altoona, with Triple-A Indianapolis. Priester knows the process will be slow, that he can’t run without learning to walk. But he wants to traverse the Minors, to don the black and gold, as quickly as he can.

“Having those little goals throughout the season … getting better from start to start, learning something out of every start, those things will add up,” Priester said. "In a few years, however long that might be, I’ll be able to pitch at the Major League level.”

Priester’s path to Pittsburgh will be all the quicker should he continue to make adjustments when necessary, as he did in his first full season.

Last year was encouraging enough for the 21-year-old. Across 20 starts (97 2/3 innings), Priester posted a 3.04 ERA with 9.03 strikeouts and 3.59 walks per nine innings. Those numbers alone were solid, but it’s Priester’s midseason improvement that's the real area of intrigue.

In his first 10 starts, Priester had a 3.35 ERA across 43 innings, striking out 8.37 and walking 3.56 per nine. In his last 10 starts of 2021, he had a 2.80 ERA across 54 2/3 innings with 9.55 strikeouts and 2.96 walks per nine. As spring transitioned to summer, Priester identified the specific areas in which he had to grow, mature.

“My competitiveness beat my [butt] at the beginning of the year," Priester said. "I wanted to throw the best stuff and throw it by guys, and make them look dumb, but that doesn’t really work when they don’t swing because it’s not in the zone."

“Mature” was the word that many in camp have used to describe Priester. That quality becomes apparent when he discusses the nuances of his game. There’s a level of introspection that Priester taps into when discussing his goals, his expectations, his evolution.

“I remember meeting him here in 2019, when I think he was just 19,” right-hander Austin Roberts said. “I was just, dude, I'm blown away. Like you said, his maturity is beyond where I was at that age for sure, where a lot of people are at that age for sure. He's so detail-oriented and he knows what he wants out of his days, out of his baseball.”

Added Pirates farm director John Baker: “In a lot of ways, maturity is the right word. He's still a very young man. He's incredibly mature and curious, so he leads in a different style of way. His openness and curiosity and ‘How can I get better?’ and I'm like, ‘Let's talk it through’ and he shares how he feels with his teammates.”

Should Priester, who will likely begin the season with Altoona, take another step forward, the Pirates will be that much closer to addressing their most glaring weakness and inching closer to some semblance of contention.

In 2021, Pittsburgh’s starters had the third-worst ERA (5.08), fourth-worst fWAR (5.0) and sixth-worst FIP (4.74). The projected rotation lacks depth and star power. The long-term solutions will likely come in-house. Enter, Priester.

Priester, alone, won’t make a great starting rotation, and the Pirates have several arms making their way through the system. Regardless of the specifics of his future supporting cast, Priester’s vision for the future remains the same.

He wants to be great, and he wants to be great when the games matter most.