Mark Prior

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (2002-2006)

Mark Prior was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 2002 to 2006 for the Chicago Cubs, a span of 5 seasons. Across 106 career appearances, he went 42-29 with a 3.51 ERA and 757 strikeouts. He also batted .201 with 1 home runs. Mark Prior was an All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 16495.0.

W (Wins):
Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):
Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):
For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):
Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated

W–L 42–29
ERA 3.51
WHIP 1.23
SO 757
Pitcher PIV 16495.0
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
6'5" / 230 lb
Born
9/7/1980 in San Diego, CA, USA
MLB Debut
2002-05-22
Last Game
2006-08-10
Awards
All-Star

Full name: Mark William Prior

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Career Pitching Statistics

Mark Prior — Career Pitching Statistics
W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
42 29 106 106 5 1 0 657.0 582 256 77 223 757 3.51 16495.0

Career ERA 3.51 vs. league average 4.39 across their career seasons — 20.2% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Mark Prior — Season-by-Season Pitching
Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
2002 CHN NL 6 6 19 19 1 0 0 116.2 98 43 38 147 3.32 4.28 (+22%) 3341.7
2003 CHN NL 18 6 30 30 3 1 0 211.1 183 57 50 245 2.43 4.40 (+45%) 10621.2
2004 CHN NL 6 4 21 21 0 0 0 118.2 112 53 48 139 4.02 4.46 (+10%) 2841.8
2005 CHN NL 11 7 27 27 1 0 0 166.2 143 68 59 188 3.67 4.29 (+14%) 1908.8
2006 CHN NL 1 6 9 9 0 0 0 43.2 46 35 28 38 7.21 4.53 (-59%) -2218.4
Career · 5 seasons 42 29 106 106 5 1 0 657.0 582 256 223 757 3.51 — 16,495

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Mark Prior — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
108 204 19 41 10 0 1 13 0 8 81 .201 .231 .265 .496 -452

Career AVG .201 vs. league average .265 across their career seasons — 24.2% below league average.

Career OBP .231 vs. league average .333 across their career seasons — 30.6% below league average.

Career SLG .265 vs. league average .423 across their career seasons — 37.5% below league average.

Career OPS .496 vs. league average .757 across their career seasons — 34.5% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Mark Prior — Season-by-Season Batting
Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
2002 CHN NL 19 35 3 6 4 0 0 4 0 2 15 .171 — — — — 0.0
2003 CHN NL 32 72 6 18 4 0 1 6 0 2 27 .250 .264 (-5%) .332 (-19%) .422 (-18%) .754 (-18%) -224.2
2004 CHN NL 21 36 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 20 .139 — — — — 0.0
2005 CHN NL 27 48 5 11 2 0 0 3 0 2 14 .229 — — — — -227.6
2006 CHN NL 9 13 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 .077 — — — — 0.0
Career · 5 seasons 108 204 19 41 10 0 1 13 0 8 81 .201 — — — — -452

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Mark Prior — Playoff Career Batting
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
3 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000

Playoff Batting by Year

Mark Prior — Playoff Batting by Year
Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
2003 NLCS CHN 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000
2003 NLDS2 CHN 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

Mark Prior — Playoff Career Pitching
W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
2 1 3 3 0 23.1 16 6 9 18 2.31

Playoff Pitching by Year

Mark Prior — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
2003 NLCS CHN 1 1 2 2 0 14.1 14 5 5 11 3.14
2003 NLDS2 CHN 1 0 1 1 0 9.0 2 1 4 7 1.00

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (214 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Mark Prior — Batting — Home / Away
SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home57106102207.208
Away519891916.194

Pitching — Home / Away

Mark Prior — Pitching — Home / Away
SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home55343.23111451094113.80
Away51313.12711111143463.19

Last 10 Games — Batting

Mark Prior — Last 10 Games — Batting
DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
2006-08-10 CHCMILL 100000001
2006-08-05 CHCPITW 201000001
2006-07-31 CHCAZL 200000001
2006-07-26 CHCNYNL 200000001
2006-07-21 CHCWASL 000000000
2006-07-04 CHCHOUL 300000000
2006-06-29 CHCMILL 200000001
2006-06-24 CHCMINL 000000000
2006-06-18 CHCDETL 100000000
2005-09-28 CHCPITL 101000000

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Mark Prior — Last 10 Games — Pitching
DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
2006-08-10 CHCMIL L 3.0465410
2006-08-05 CHCPIT W 5.2532351
2006-07-31 CHCAZ L 5.0666353
2006-07-26 CHCNYN — 5.2000530
2006-07-21 CHCWAS — 3.1444320
2006-07-04 CHCHOU L 6.0443470
2006-06-29 CHCMIL L 5.2855491
2006-06-24 CHCMIN L 5.2833140
2006-06-18 CHCDET L 3.2787124
2005-09-28 CHCPIT L 5.0631471

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Mark Prior — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
P 106 106 25 52 6 4

Season-by-Season Fielding

Mark Prior — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
2002 CHN P 19 19 1 8 0 0
2003 CHN P 30 30 8 12 3 0
2004 CHN P 21 21 4 18 0 3
2005 CHN P 27 27 9 9 1 0
2006 CHN P 9 9 3 5 2 1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Mark Prior — Career Games by Position
Position Games
Pitcher 106

Awards & Honors

Mark Prior — Awards & Honors
Year Award Notes
2003 Pitcher of the Month August
2003 Pitcher of the Month September
2003 Player of the Week Week of 2003-09-20
2003 This Year in Baseball Starter of the Year MLB.com GIBBY

Salary History

Mark Prior's recorded salaries total $12,800,000 over 5 seasons, 2003 to 2008. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Prior's career ran from 2002 to 2006. No salary is recorded for 2002.

Mark Prior — Salary History
Year Team League Salary
2008 SDN NL $1,000,000
2006 CHN NL $3,650,000
2005 CHN NL $3,550,000
2004 CHN NL $3,150,000
2003 CHN NL $1,450,000
Total recorded salary (partial) $12,800,000

College History

Mark Prior — College History
School Name City State Years Attended
University of Southern California Los Angeles CA 2000, 2001
Vanderbilt University Nashville TN 1999

Award Voting History

Mark Prior — Award Voting History
Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
2003 Cy Young Award NL 3rd 60.0 160 2
2003 Most Valuable Player NL 9th 44.0 448 0
2002 Rookie of the Year NL 7th 3.0 160 0

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Mark Prior (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Hunter Brown
    42-35, 3.44 ERA
  2. 75
    Danny Salazar
    38-34, 3.82 ERA
  3. 61
    Justin Steele
    32-22, 3.30 ERA
  4. 60
    Mike Clevinger
    60-44, 3.55 ERA
  5. 59
    Cole Ragans
    22-24, 3.76 ERA
  6. 49
    Hunter Greene
    27-31, 3.82 ERA

Mark Prior: the record in brief

Mark Prior's major league career runs from a debut on May 22, 2002 to a final game on August 10, 2006. Prior's only club in the season tables is the Chicago Cubs. Listed as a pitcher, Prior both batted and threw right-handed. The recorded size is 6 feet, 5 inches and 230 pounds. Prior was born on September 7, 1980, in San Diego, CA, USA. On the record, Mark Prior was born Mark William Prior.

Prior went 42-29 with a 3.51 ERA in 106 games, 106 of them starts. Prior had 757 strikeouts. That 3.51 ERA compares with a 4.39 league average across the same seasons, 20.2% better. Prior won 18 games in 2003, the most of any season listed. Among the heaviest workloads, the lowest ERA was 2.43 in 2003, when the league's was 4.40. Prior's career Pitcher PIV, which scores run prevention against each season's league, is 16,495.0.

Frequently Asked Questions about Mark Prior

What years did Mark Prior play?
Mark Prior played in Major League Baseball from 2002 to 2006.
Was Mark Prior a pitcher?
Yes. Mark Prior pitched in the major leagues, recording 42 wins and 757 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Mark Prior hit?
Mark Prior hit 1 career home run with 41 hits.
What teams did Mark Prior play for?
Mark Prior played for one team, the Chicago Cubs (2002–2006).
Did Mark Prior win a Cy Young Award?
No. Mark Prior did not win the Cy Young Award.
What awards did Mark Prior win?
Mark Prior was selected to 1 All-Star Game.
What were Mark Prior's career stats?
In 106 games, Mark Prior went 42-29 with a 3.51 ERA, 757 strikeouts, and 657.0 innings pitched. At the plate he had 41 hits and 1 home runs.
How much did Mark Prior earn in his career?
Mark Prior's recorded salaries total $12,800,000 over 5 seasons, 2003 to 2008. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Prior's career ran from 2002 to 2006. No salary is recorded for 2002.
What was Mark Prior's salary?
Mark Prior's last recorded salary was $1,000,000, in 2008. His highest recorded salary was $3,650,000, in 2006, and his lowest was $1,000,000, in 2008. The Salary History table lists each season from 2003 to 2008.
What position did Mark Prior play?
Mark Prior played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Mark Prior and how much did he weigh?
Mark Prior was listed at 6 feet 5 inches and 230 pounds.
What was Mark Prior's career ERA?
Mark Prior finished with a 3.51 career ERA, going 42-29 with 757 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Mark Prior have?
Mark Prior recorded 757 career strikeouts.
Is Mark Prior in the Hall of Fame?
No. Mark Prior has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.