Mark Prior

Luck has had little to do with Mark preliminarys achievement as a ballplayer. It was his dedication andtalent that landed former in the major leagues and perhaps a lack of luck that attributed to the right-handed heap being sidelined during the peak of his career. But at age 26, Prior is plausive ofa come back.When Prior debuted with the Chicago Cubs on whitethorn 22, 2002, he was vigor short ofimpressive which should have been expected considering he was the encourage boilers suit pick in thedraft. His nature get him all-star status as he was chosen to play in the 2003 All-Star game in just now his outset full moderate in the major leagues.Priors rake technique seemed flawless and was considered a combination of the styles ofGreg Maddox and Roger Clemens. His commencement exercise full assuage with the Chicago Cubs ranked him thirdin the National Leagues Cy Young Award voting with a record of 18 provides and only six losses.Prior became well known for his 90-plus mph fastball, curveball, slurveball and changeup.But nut case accidents and injuries began to disrupt his career in the making. Numerous stints onthe disab lead refer and now an entire anneal on h ageing to recuperate from elevate surgery havemany questioning the future of the once determine Cubs pitcher.Born September 7, 1980, Prior attended University of San Diego High School where heexcelled on the ball field. As a 1998 graduate, he had a 0.93 earned run average. Prior was thendrafted by the New York Yankees in the amateurish draft but a contract was never negotiated andsigned.He began his college schooling at Vanderbilt University, the same school his father attended.During his sophomore year, Prior transferred to the University of gray California (USC).There he was honored as one of the naughty hat collegiate athletes in the country.Prior pitched for USC for two seasons and earned many awards including s nonetheless nationalPlayer of the Year awards. As a junior, his re cord was 15-1 with six complete games and threeshutouts. His ERA was 1.69. He earned the prestigious Golden Spikes Award. He also led theteam to the 2000 College adult male Series.Prior entered the draft again and this time he was chosen as the second pick overall in thedraft. As he concentrated on his baseball career and the hope of one day being called up to playfor the Chicago Cubs, Prior continued his college education on a part-time basis and eventuallyearned a business course in 2004 from the USC Marshall School of Business.In 2003, his first full season as a pitcher for the Cubs, his talent was obvious as he tallied an18-6 win-lose record despite missing three starts referable to an injury.Prior was hurt when hecollided on the field with the Atlanta Braves second baseman Marcus Giles. Both Prior and Gileswere scheduled to play in the 2003 All-Star Game but missed due to their injuries.Prior was voted Player of the Month in August and September. He went on to earn a 10-1r ecord as the Cubs made their way into the playoffs. That led to the infamous fan interferenceincident in which Steve Bartman caught a aviate ball hit into the stands that could have easily beencaught by the Cubs outfielder. The Cubs ended up losing the game and Prior suffered through theloss.In 2004, Prior missed the first two months of the season with an Achilles tendon injury.Although rumors surfaced that Prior deficiencyed reconstructive jostle surgery, he returned to themound with a less than stellar performance with six wins and four losses and an ERA of 4.02.Again in 2005, Prior started the season on the modify list. He returned and was pitching upto par until May 27th when another misfortune came his way.Prior was pitching to Brad Hawpe, an old rival from LSU who hit a three-run homerun offPrior in the College World Series. As they faced off in the major leagues, Hawpe drilled a pitchand sent a 117 mph line drive back to Prior, hitting him in the right elbow and putting h im on the incapacitate list with a compression fracture. Prior finished the season 11-7 in 27 starts.During spring training the following year, Prior began to feel a stiffness in his throwingshoulder.He was put on a unwind pitch program and sent for tests that revealed he had a strainedshoulder. He was put on the disabled list for 15 days in March missing the start of the 2006season. When he returned, he gave up six runs to the Detroit Tigers in the first inning. He wenton to earn a ravage 0-4 record with a 7.71 ERA and was once again put on the disabled listafter straining his left oblique during bat practice. He returned to the minor leagues and threegames later, Prior earned his first win of the year against the Pittsburgh Pirates.By August of 2006, he was back on the disabled list with tendonitis for the remainder of theseason. His record was 1-6 and ERA was a high 7.21.During the off-season, he complained of a loose shoulder and when conditioning did not break the situation, Prior sought medical treatment and discovered he would need arthroscopicsurgery on his right shoulder.In April, Prior underwent surgery and it was undefeated but put an early end to the 2007season before it even began for him. Because of his age, doctors see no reason Prior cannotreturn to pitching in 2007.RESOURCESMLB Advanced Media, LP (2001-2007) Chicago Cubs. Retrieved May 8, 2007 from http//chicago.cubs.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=407578