Mark Prior
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Mark William Prior (born September 7, 1980 in San Diego, California, USA) is a Major League Baseball player. He is a right-handed starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Prior is seen as one of the best young pitchers in baseball.
Prior was the 2nd pick in the 2001 amateur draft out of USC, where he won the Golden Spikes Award (he attended his father's alma mater, Vanderbilt University, for his Freshman year), given annually to the best colligiate baseball player in the U.S.
Prior dominated the minor leagues in his short stay there, and made his Major League debut on May 22, 2002. Prior finished his rookie season with a 6-6 record.
In 2003, he finished third in the National League's Cy Young Award voting after compiling an 18-6 won-loss record despite missing significant time after an on-field collision with Atlanta Braves second baseman Marcus Giles. Due to the collision, both Prior and Giles were forced to miss the 2003 All-Star Game, to which they had been selected to perform in.
After Prior's stint on the disabled list came to an end, he was nearly unstoppable, compiling a 10-1 record after his injury and leading the Cubs into the playoffs, where they beat the Braves in the first round before losing to the eventual World Series Champion Florida Marlins in the NLCS despite a tightly contested seven game battle.
Prior was on the mound for one of the most infamous moments in recent Major League Baseball history on October 14, 2003. As Prior pitched in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the NLCS with the Cubs leading 3-0 and needing only five outs to advance to their first World Series since 1945, Marlins second baseman Luis Castillo hit a foul popup. Cubs leftfielder Moisés Alou seemed about to catch it when suddenly, Cubs fan Steve Bartman, who was sitting in the front row, reached out and grabbed the ball out of mid-air right before Alou could close his glove on it. Castillo eventually reached base, and Prior and the Cubs proceeded to collapse, giving up eight unanswered Marlins runs and losing the game 8-3 to send the series to a winner-take-all seventh game, which the Cubs also lost.
The bad luck continued for Prior as he was forced to miss the first two months of the 2004 season due to an achilles tendon injury, as well as a sore arm. 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 started the 2005 season on the DL again; however, after returning from the DL, he pitched very well in the early part of the season. In late May 2005, Prior was hit on his elbow by a line drive off the bat of Brad Hawpe, fracturing the joint, and leaving his future somewhat uncertain. The injury is reportedly a compression fracture, and Prior is expected to be able to pitch again in 2005.