With Whitney, all he did was stop Miltank from rolling down a hill. With Pryce, he simply stops the battle in the middle despite the fact that Piloswine was beating Pikachu. Pryce was definitely a pity badge, what kind of Gym leader gives up in the middle of the match when he was winning? He just handed Ash the badge because he saved Piloswine in the previous ep, not that he won.
Some of the other Johto Gyms were fine, but there was definitely still some pity badge stuff going on, even if it was less than Kanto.