| Mark has gone 41-23 with a 3.24 ERA
in his first 97 regular-season major league starts ... in 2003
- his first full season in the majors - he finished third in the
National League Cy Young Award voting and was selected to the
NL All-Star team ... in 2003, he was the NL Pitcher of the Month
in both August and September ... also earned Pitcher of the Week
honors for the week ending September 21 ... has worked at least
6.0 innings in 72 of his starts and has allowed 2 or fewer earned
runs in 59 of his outings ... over his last 85 starts spanning
540.1 innings (dating back to July 30, 2002), he has fanned 633
batters while issuing only 165 walks ... was a 2002 finalist for
the 72nd annual Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) James E. Sullivan
Memorial Award, which recognizes the top amateur athlete in the
nation ... was just the fourth baseball player to be a finalist
for the prestigious award ... received a degree in business at
the University of Southern California in 2004, where he pitched
for two seasons ... in 2001, he earned numerous all-America selections
and won seven national Player of the Year awards after going 15-1
with 6 complete games, 3 shutouts and a 1.69 ERA during his junior
year at USC ... in helping to lead the Trojans to the College
World Series, he limited opponents to a .201 average, fanned 202
batters in 138.2 innings and surrendered only 18 walks and 5 homers
... won the Golden Spikes Award (the baseball equivalent of the
Heisman Trophy), the Rotary Smith Award and the Dick Howser Trophy
(National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association) ... was named
the Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches' Association,
Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and The Sporting News ...
spent his freshman year at Vanderbilt University (earning Baseball
America freshman second-team all-America honors) before transferring
to USC ... as a sophomore in 2000, he earned Pac-10 honorable
mention honors after going 10-7 with a 3.56 ERA in 23 games (19
starts) for the Trojans ... earned high school all-America honors
at University of San Diego High School, graduating in 1998 after
going 10-5 with a 0.93 ERA as a senior ... along with earning
all-state honors, he was named the San Diego County Player of
the Year by the San Diego Union-Tribune ... pitched for the USA
National Team in both 1999 and 2000 - recording victories over
Japan and Cuba during the Haarlem (The Netherlands) Tournament
during the summer of 2000 ... in 1999, he was selected to the
Baseball America second-team all-summer team ... named to USA
Baseball's board of directors in January 2005 ... his father,
Jerry, played football at Vanderbilt ... his sister, Millie, played
tennis at the University of San Diego, while his brother, Jerry
III, was a tennis player at Villanova University.
2006 Highlights:
The start of Prior's season was delayed because of shoulder problems.
He did not make his first start until June 18, and went 3 2/3
innings. His last start was Aug. 10 against Milwaukee, and he
was then sidelined because of a sore left oblique. Prior's longest
outing was six innings.
2005 Highlights:
Mark recorded his second career double-digit wins season - going
11-7 with a 3.67 ERA - despite battling injuries for the second
straight year ... opened the season on the disabled list with
right elbow inflammation and was activated April 12 ... returned
to the DL on May 28 after suffering a fracture in his right elbow
... suffered the injury on May 27 when he was hit by a line drive
off the bat of Colorado's Brad Hawpe ... struck out 188 batters
in 166.2 innings of work and limited the opponents to a .227 average
... led the National League in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (10.2),
ranked fifth in opponents batting average against and ranked ninth
in strikeouts ... surrendered more than 3 earned runs on just
three occasions - and was 11-4 with a 2.83 ERA (48 ER/152.2 IP)
in his remaining 24 starts ... had six double-digit strikeout
games, striking out a season high 11 batters on August 9 ... earned
his first win of the campaign in his first start, hurling 6.0
scoreless innings in an 8-3 defeat of San Diego on April 13 ...
also notched a pair of hits and scored a run in the contest ...
opened the year with a three-game winning streak, allowing just
2 earned runs over his first 19.0 innings of work ... rebounded
from his second stint on the DL with a win, pitching 6.0 shutout
innings in a 2-0 win on June 26 at U.S. Cellular Field ... retired
18 of the 19 batters he faced ... Pablo Ozuna was the lone batter
to reach base, singling in the third inning ... pitched in the
same game as Kerry Wood for the first time in their careers, earning
the win in a 5-4 decision on August 14 in St. Louis. |
