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Mark Prior out for 2007 season
by Scott Farr
Exchange Staff
Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior has experienced a lot in his 5-year baseball career. He has had his ups and downs with winning, playing in the playoffs and getting the thrill of the MLB experience. But the biggest problem with Mark Prior's career is the fact that he has faced injuries the past couple of years that have hindered his success.
Prior opted for season-ending surgery on his right shoulder after having the biggest setback yet. 2007 looked to be a promising way to help Prior get back to what he used to be and forget about years past. What Prior will be doing over the course of the baseball season, including the off season, is to stick to a rehabilitation program that will have him try to get back into shape and ready for the 2008 season.
When I think about Mark Prior, I look at a once proud pitcher who had a lot of potential when he started his career. I watched him when he first started back in 2002 when he was a young rookie pitcher called up from the Cubs farm system and finished the season with a 6-6 record. The next year after that would be Prior's best year when he went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA and led the Cubs to the National League Championship series which was a "what could have been" year for the Cubs.
But starting in 2004, Prior would be hampered with quite a few injuries that would ruin his playing career. An Achilles tendon injury, getting hit in his pitching elbow that would lead to a compression fracture, stiffness in his shoulder, tendonitis and now the surgery on his shoulder. The list could go on for Prior and his injuries. The sad part about all of this is the fact that he had so much potential early on in his career before the chronic injuries set in. I hope that he has the potential to come back in 2008 and try to be a good fraction of himself again.
It is injuries like these that have ruined the careers of MLB pitchers out there like Carl Pavano, Mike Hampton, Robb Nen, Kerry Wood, Pedro Martinez and many others. The only thing we can hope for all of these pitchers is that they can heal up and get back on the mound again, especially Prior.
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Mark Prior is 42-29 with a career 3.51 ERA through 5 seasons. He
will not have a chance to improve those statistics because he has
been hampered with injuries over the past few seasons and recently
opted to end his season to have surgery on his shoulder. |
