Prior is one very intriguing comeback bid
Prodigies normally don't wind up where former Cubs pitching phenom Mark Prior is these days.
Rembrandts don't go back to painting by the numbers. The Rolling Stones don't go back to making garage music. CEOs don't go back to the mailroom.
But Prior essentially is doing that, less than a decade after the Cubs gave him $10.5 million to sign his first professional contract.
Prior's predicament is light-years from Carlos Zambrano returning to the Cubs' starting rotation Monday night and Bobby Jenks struggling to retain his White Sox' closer role.
Mark Prior is pitching for the Orange County Flyers in the independent Golden League, of all places.
My goodness, this guy has gone from having an "S" on his chest to an "ex" on the back of his baseball card to now a "?" on his comeback attempt.
Prior isn't the type of athlete you'd imagine trying to hang on to his career. He was just too important to a team to consent to being irrelevant, too much of a leading man to agree to being a bit player.
We're talking about someone who was accustomed to great expectations. Somewhat like Tom Seaver, Prior was projected to become the best pitcher on any staff and the smartest person in any clubhouse.
All indications were that Prior would wind up either in baseball's Hall of Fame or, in the remote event that didn't work out, in a finance career.
But not in an independent league a cut below a minor league.
Most athletes on the career path Prior's started out on don't think of anything but the next game. However, he spent three baseball off-seasons earning a business degree at the University of Southern California.
You know, just in case the sports thing didn't work out Prior could become an investment adviser like his father.
Yet today Prior is whacking around the bushes hoping to become an older big-league pitcher instead of a younger big-time businessman.
Remember, Prior in 2003 at age 23 went 18-6, had a 2.43 ERA and was on the mound when the Cubs stood five outs from their first World Series in 58 years.
That was before injuries diminished Prior's talent, before the infamous towel drills and whirlpool stints and rehab assignments ended his time with the Cubs.
Prior's reputation was tainted by whispers that he was too soft to pitch in pain, that his father remained too big an influence on his career, even that steroids broke down his body.
Anyway, now a month short of turning 30, Prior is trying to work back into the big leagues, but not as a Cubs ace to replace Zambrano or a Sox closer to replace Jenks.
Prior is aspiring to be a middle reliever in any big-league bullpen that will have him.
Middle relievers are like NFL long snappers and NBA eighth men. They help baseball teams win but are about as glamorous as backup goalies in the NHL.
So, does all this make Prior an admirable wannabe or pathetic has-been?
Who knows, but either way he's one of this summer's most interesting - albeit distant - baseball stories.
Cubs fans might not like this sentiment, but as long as Mark Prior is willing to humble himself this profoundly it would be nice to see him make it back to the major leagues.
mimrem@dailyherald.com
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<li><a href="/story/?id=398462">Former Cubs pitcher Mark Prior signs with minor league team <span class="date">[08/04/10]</span></a></li>
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