Mark Prior
| Mark Prior | |||
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Prior with the Chicago Cubs in 2005
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: September 7, 1980 San Diego County, California |
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| MLB debut | |||
| May 22, 2002, for the Chicago Cubs | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| August 10, 2006, for the Chicago Cubs | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 42–29 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.51 | ||
| Strikeouts | 757 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Mark William Prior (born September 7, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Chicago Cubs from 2002 to 2006 in a career that was marred by injuries. His repertoire of pitches included a mid-90s mph fastball, a curveball, a slurve, and a changeup. He is currently working in the front office of the San Diego Padres Organization.
Prior graduated from the University of San Diego High School. He was originally drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1998 amateur draft, but the team was unable to sign him to a contract.
Prior attended his father's alma mater, Vanderbilt University for his freshman year. He transferred to the University of Southern California (USC), where he played college baseball for the USC Trojans. In 2001, Prior won several collegiate player of the year awards, including the Dick Howser Trophy, the Golden Spikes Award, and the Rotary Smith Award.
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 did not want to play for them. Fearing signability problems, 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 third baseman Mark Teixeira, who went fifth to the Texas Rangers. The Cubs signed Prior to a contract for $10.5 million, which stood as the record amount for a draft pick until 2009.
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