Chicago Cubs: Was Mark Prior the most hyped prospect in team history?

David Schoenfield of ESPN recently opined Mark Pr ior is the most hyped prospect in Chicago Cubs history. But I’m not so sure that’s really accurate.

Looking back at Mark Prior‘s rapid ascent to the big leagues is something that’s actually pretty hard to wrap our minds around given how big of a focus there is on player development in today’s game. But 18 years ago, the Chicago Cubs added the big right-hander to their roster with a mere nine minor league appearances to his credit.

Chicago drafted Prior the previous summer with the second overall pick in the June draft out of USC. He was coming off a dominant run with the Trojans, to say the least. After transferring from another baseball powerhouse in Vanderbilt, he made 37 starts across two campaigns, working to a 2.62 ERA while striking out 352 and walking only 64.

As noted in a July 2011 article from ESPN, Prior was on a whole new level in his junior season at USC, losing just once and putting up a 58:2 strikeout-to-walk mark in the month of April in 36 innings of work. A few short months later, the Cubs tapped Prior in the draft, marking the start of his professional career.

Chicago Cubs: Prior pitched like an ace from the get-go

He didn’t pitch that summer, but was so highly regarded coming out of college that Baseball America ranked him as the game’s second-best prospect in the spring of 20002, behind fellow hurler Josh Beckett – who was heading into third professional season after the Marlins drafted him out of high school in 1999.

So stopping right there for a second, it’s abundantly clear that Prior was – by pretty much all evaluations – poised to be the guy for the Chicago Cubs for years to come. In that regard, Schoenfield hit it right on the head. It’s hard for a guy to have much more hype than Prior did coming out of college, but I also don’t think it paints an entirely accurate picture, either.

Prior made his debut that year, making 19 starts and putting up solid numbers for a rookie in the midst of an offense-dominated era: a 122 ERA+ (3.32 ERA), 3.16 FIP, 3.87 SO/BB and 11.3 SO/9 across 116 2/3 innings. His big showing came in 2003, when he led the Cubs to the NLCS on the heels of a third-place finish in NL Cy Young voting after he struck out 245 in 211 1/3 innings of work with a league-leading 2.47 FIP.

We all know the story from there. Injuries mounted and what looked like the makings of a long, dominant big league career were cast to the wind. Prior now serves as the pitching coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers at just 39 years of age. All this to say, yes – Mark Prior was hyped – tremendously so. But I believe one player had more of a media circus surrounding him ahead of his debut.