Mark Prior

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This article is about the Major League Baseball pitcher. For the United States Senator with a similar name, see Mark Pryor.

Mark William Prior (born September 7, 1980 in San Diego, California, United States) is a starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres. His career has notably been muddled with injuries after a promising start which had pundits calling him a future superstar.

His repertoire of pitches includes a low to mid 90's fastball, a curveball, a slurve, and a changeup.

Prior graduated from University of San Diego High School. He was originally drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1998 amateur draft, but they were unable to sign him to a contract.

College career

He would go on to attend USC, where he won the Dick Howser Trophy (he attended his father's alma mater, Vanderbilt University, for his freshman year), given annually to the national collegiate baseball player of the year. After becoming a professional baseball player, he continued his education on a part-time basis and received a business degree from USC Marshall School of Business in 2004. He was part of a pitching rotation that also boasted current St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Anthony Reyes.

Major League career

2001 draft

In 2001, Prior re-entered the draft, and was considered by some to be the top prospect, but the Minnesota Twins, who had the top pick, were warned that Prior didn't want to play for them. Fearing a tough signability problem, the Twins opted to take local talent catcher Joe Mauer, leaving Prior to be taken 2nd overall by the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs had also been considering drafting Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets' third baseman Mark Teixeira, who went fifth to the Texas Rangers.

2003 season

In , Prior finished third in the National League's Cy Young Award voting after compiling an 18-6 win-loss record despite missing three starts after an on-field collision with Atlanta Braves second baseman Marcus Giles. Prior and Giles had both been chosen to play in the 2003 All-Star Game, but were forced to miss the game as a result of their injuries. Prior and fellow right-heanded pitcher Kerry Wood were dubbed "Chicago Heat" by Sports Illustrated, and the name stuck, as the twosome were dominant in leading the Cubs to an 88-win season and a division title.

After Prior's stint on the disabled list came to an end, he compiled a 10-1 record, and pitched against former Cub Greg Maddux in the first round of the playoffs. The Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves in the first round, but lost to the eventual World Series Champion Florida Marlins in the NLCS, despite a tightly contested seven game battle. Prior, who was the winner in Game 2, was on the mound for the infamous Steve Bartman/Moises Alou foul ball incident in Game 6. At the time, the Cubs were nursing a three-run lead in the 8th inning, and were only five outs away from breaking the Curse of the Billy Goat. The Marlins built off of the miscue by scoring eight runs. Prior and the Cubs would go on to lose the game as well as Game 7, which Wood started.

2004 season

Prior was forced to miss the first two months of the season due to an achilles tendon injury. There were published reports stating that Prior would need reconstructive Tommy John surgery on his elbow, but both Prior and the Cubs flatly denied this, saying that his achilles tendon injury is the only reason he missed time in 2004. After coming off the disabled list Prior did not pitch up to expectations, leading to more speculation about the health of his arm. However, towards the end of the 2004 season, Prior seemed to return to form. Prior struck out a career high 16 Cincinnati Reds in his last start of the season.

2005 season

Prior's 2005 season was again marred with numerous missed games due to injuries. After starting the season on DL again, he returned and pitched well in the early part of the season. However, on May 27, Prior was hit on his right (pitching) elbow by a 117-mph comeback line drive off the bat of Brad Hawpe, giving him a compression fracture. This sent him to another stint on the DL. Coincidentally, Hawpe, when playing for LSU in the College World Series, had hit a three-run home run off Prior that eliminated USC from contention that year. Prior finished the 2005 season with an 11-7 record in 27 starts.

2006 season

During the 2005 off-season, after Nomar Garciaparra left the Cubs via free agency, Prior was mentioned as part of a possible deal for Baltimore Orioles's shortstop Miguel Tejada, but this trade did not come to pass. His bad luck would continue in Spring Training of 2006 when he was put on a slow throwing program. After feeling stiffness in his throwing shoulder, was diagnosed with a strained shoulder. He was placed on the 15 day disabled list, missing the first two months of the 2006 season. His 2006 debut came on June 18th, when he was shelled by the Detroit Tigers, giving up six runs in the first inning and lasted just 3.2 innings before being pulled. Prior was 0-4 in four starts with a 7.71 ERA, until he was once again put on the disabled list July 14, after straining his left oblique muscle while taking batting practice. He returned on July 21 to play against the Washington Nationals. He pitched 3.1 innings before he was pulled out of the game.

On August 14, Prior was again placed on the disabled list (tendinitis) for the remainder of the season. He finished 2006 with a 1-6 record and a 7.21 ERA.

2007 season

In the off-season, the Cubs reported that Prior suffers from a "loose shoulder" which leads to injuries and means he has to do more conditioning work. Being eligible for arbitration, Prior then proceeded to ask for a pay raise from his 2006 salary of $3.65 million to $3.875 million for 2007. The Cubs avoided arbitration with Prior when he settled for a one year $3.575 million contract for 2007.

After losing his spot in the starting rotation to Wade Miller, Prior was optioned to Triple-A Iowa for the start of the season. To vent his anger in the decision, Prior said sarcastically in the Chicago Tribune “I’m just an employee. The goal now is to go down and help that team win and try to make the Triple-A All-Star team. Maybe I can get invited to the Futures Game or something. I’m still 26.” This quote outraged many fans and angered the Chicago media, including former Wrigley Field Bleacher Bums founder and WSCR 670 AM host Mike Murphy, who called Prior a "big baby" on the air and challenged Prior to prove to everyone the "old Mark" was back and ready to again dominate the big leagues, and finally warrant his selection as #2 in the draft.

Prior missed the rest of the 2007 season after going through season-ending surgery. After one start in the minors, which he won despite giving up 3 runs, Prior had Dr. James Andrews, a noted orthopedic surgeon perform "exploratory surgery" on his right shoulder, which, not surprisingly to the fans and media, showed Prior to have structural damage that the Cubs had never properly diagnosed or treated and Dr. Andrews immediately addressed the issues. Interestingly, the Cubs, for the first time in four years, have not counted on either Prior or Wood pitching a game, as waiting on the injury-plagued twosome had proven to be frustrating for the fans, teammates, and the coaching staff. In the offseason the Cubs signed lefty Ted Lilly from the Blue Jays and righty Jason Marquis from the rival Cardinals. Cubs GM Jim Hendry said that anything provided by Prior or Wood would be "gravy" and he hoped that this would come to fruition. In June of 2007, Prior was called up to the big league club from Iowa, in order to place him on the 60-day DL and keep him active on the roster. This gave the team more flexibility at the AAA level so that they could keep RHP Angel Guzman in the minors. While Wood made his return to the club on August 5, Prior was non-tendered on December 12 2007, ending his tenure with the Chicago Cubs.

The San Diego Padres were rumored to pursue him in the offseason and Prior reciprocated his interest in San Diego, where he resides during the offseason The Astros, Reds, Nationals, Mets, and Yankees were other interested teams.

On December 26th, 2007, Prior agreed to a contract with the San Diego Padres. It is a $1 million, one-year, incentive-laden deal. Prior will return to his hometown, where he achieved great success as a prep athlete.

Injuries

Date	Injury	Time Inactive
Midseason 2003	Shoulder after on-field collision with former Atlanta Braves second baseman Marcus Giles.	3 Starts
Preseason 2004	Achilles tendon injury	2 months
Preseason 2005	Elbow strain	Several weeks
May 27, 2005	Throwing elbow - comeback line drive off the bat of Brad Hawpe	Several Weeks
Preseason 2006	Strained shoulder	3 Months
July 14, 2006	Strained left oblique in batting practice	2 starts
August 14, 2006	Shoulder tendinitis	Rest of 2006 Season
Spring Training 2007	Shoulder surgery	Entire 2007 Season

References

External links

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Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 20:30:32 PDT (GMT -0700)
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