#RememberThatCub: Mark Prior

Mark Prior had the ability to be an all-time Cubs great but will be more remembered for the Bartman game

Mark Prior(Scott Ableman via Flickr)

Mark Prior posessed the ability to be a superstar. Unfortunately arm injuries turned a career of epic promise into a pile of what-ifs.

Originally drafted by the New York Yankees in 1998, they were unable to reach a contractual agreement with the right hander. As a result Prior decided to attend USC.

In the 2001 season he won the Dick Howser Trophy(given to the national collegiate player of the year) and the Golden Spikes Award(the best college player of the year as voted by USA Baseball and MLBPA). After three college seasons he decided to take the next step.

He re-entered the amateur draft following that season. The projection of many was that he was the top player in that draft. Minnesota had the 1st pick that year and the Cubs had the second pick. Prior did not want to play for the Twins. As a result of this they opted to take Joe Mauer who is still playing for them today. The Cubs had been considering Mark Teixeira out of Georgia Tech but ultimately selected Prior.

The contract he signed with Chicago was for $10.5 million. That stood as the major league record amount for a draft pick until 2009.

His rookie season of 2002 saw him win six games in 19 starts. He had an ERA of 3.32 and a WHIP of 1.166. His WAR stood at 3.0.

Mark Prior(James V. via Flickr)

The 2003 season was his best and a memorable one for the Chicago Cubs. The lanky right hander with popeye calfs put up Cy Young type numbers that season while helping the Cubs reach game 7 of the NLCS. He won 18 games and his ERA of 2.43 was 3rd best in the National League. He had a 7.0 WAR, a FIP of 2.47, and a WHIP of 1.103. He finished 3rd in Cy Young voting and was an All Star as a result. Many have blamed Dusty Baker for years for ruining Prior’s arm by overworking him that season. He averaged 113.4 pitches per start during the regular season. In September alone he averaged 124 pitches a game and 120 per game during the post season. I really don’t have to go into the details of that post season as it is all too well remembered by Cubs fans everywhere. The 2003 season would be the last time Prior would pitch an entire campaign. But it was the heavy work load in that sesaon that many say lead to Prior’s downfall. Mark Prior doesn’t agree with that assessment as he wrote in Sports Illustrated in August of 2016.

“Others — mostly Cubs fans — still blame my manager, Dusty Baker, for the series of injuries that derailed my career. They believe that he overused me in 2003 and blah, blah, blah. Only, here’s the thing: I don’t blame Dusty for what happened to me. I wouldn’t change a single thing that happened during that season — beyond us failing to bring a World Series Championship to Chicago, of course. No matter how many pitches I threw, I never asked to come out of a game — doing so would have been unthinkable.” — Mark Prior(Sports Illustrated, 2016)

“Dusty was hired to manage each game like it was his last. And over the course of a season (or even multiple seasons), that meant an endless series of decisions — especially when it comes to balancing pitcher workloads against the need to win games. Ironically, this is part of my job with the Padres now — the job pitching coaches at all our affiliates have — and it’s not an easy one. Like anything else, you do the best you can.” — Mark Prior(Sports Illustrated, 2016)

Always good when we are beating the Cards(Crissy Terawaki Kawamoto via Flickr)

In 2004 he missed the first two months of the season due to an achilles tendon injury. There were also rumors floating around he was going to need Tommy John surgery. Prior and the Cubs denied that rumor. They said the achilles injury was the only reason he missed time. He ended up making 21 starts that season with an ERA of 4.02 and a 6–4 record.

In 2005 he again started the season on the DL. On May 27th he was hit on the elbow by a 117 MPH line drive that caused a compression fracture. He came back on June 27th and was able to finish the season. He was 11–7 with an ERA of 3.67 and a FIP of 3.85.

Prior believes that a collision he had with Marcus Giles in 2003 combined with the line drive are what caused his arm issues.

2006 would be his final year in Chicago. He missed the first two months of the year with a strained shoulder. He made his season debut on June 18th. On July 14th he strained his left oblique and went back on the DL. On August 14th he was shut down for the year with tendinitis. He made 9 appearances in total with a 1–6 record and a 7.01 ERA.

The Cubs reported that same off season that Prior was suffering from a “loose shoulder” that could lead to injuries and that he needed to do more conditioning work. Some of the comments on the Cubs side very well could have been politicking as Prior was eligible for arbitration. The two sides settled on a contract of $3.5 million.

After one minor league start that season, Dr. James Andrews did exploratory shoulder surgery on Prior and discovered structural damage. The surgery to repair it would cause Prior to miss the entire season and on December 12th, 2007 he was non-tendered which ended his Cubs career. He would never throw a pitch in a major league game again.

Between 2007 and 2013 he tried to comeback with the Padres, Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Reds.

Never being able to make it back, he announced his retirement from baseball in December of 2013.

He currently holds a position in the Padres front office as a “special assistant” but he is learning all aspects of the work it takes to be in management. He’s learning how to scout, build a roster, draft, really all aspects that will prepare him to be a GM in baseball some time in the future.

“I don’t want to say it’s a floating job, but it’s a chance for me to learn all aspects of the operation away from the field,” Prior said. “I know what goes on there on the field and with the coaches, but I’ve never really had an understanding of what happens in the office and behind the scenes.”

After spending 12 years with returning to the mound as his sole focus, Mark Prior is finally embracing life without playing baseball. It was a career that had all the makings of being hall of fame worthy but ended with so many unrealized accomplishments.

In a recent Inside Look episode on CSN Chicago, Mark Prior talked with David Kaplan about his career: “I don’t think I understood the magnitude of winning a playoff series and then the magnitude exponentially of being with the Cubs and winning a playoff series,” Prior told Kaplan. “I think I’ve seen that in retrospect how important that’s been and obviously how hard it’s been for the organization. I think that’s something we cherish and we can hang our hat on a little bit even though we faltered in the next series.”

Until last year, 2003 was perhaps my favorite season as a Cubs fan. Even more so than 1984. Watching Prior and Wood power pitch the Cubs to the brink of breaking the curse was maddening and amazing simultaneously. Watching them fail to reach the pinnacle was heart crushing.

I have only owned one authentic Cubs jersey in my life. It was a Mark Prior blue alternate jersey. I don’t have it any more but when I bought it I thought Mark Prior would be a superstar and with the Cubs for years to come. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and he became one more story in a string of just miss stories for the Cubs.

#RememberThatCub — Tweet a former Cubs player’s name you would like to read about to that hashtag and we’ll bring it you.

Doug Preszler is the type of person who can be a Cubs fan and an Iowa fan while living in South Dakota. He is a man who cares not for regional loyalty. He can be found on Twitter @PreszlerDoug, telling tales of the Dakotan Cubs fan’s existence.