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Pair of aces Prior, Wood have potential to rewrite record booksPosted: Tuesday July 01, 2003 12:59 PMUpdated: Wednesday July 02, 2003 11:24 PM
Ninety minutes before his first Opening Day in the big leagues, Cubs pitcher Mark Prior was told someone wanted to meet him. It turned out to be a fellow University of Southern California alumnus. A fellow right-hander. A fellow phenom, at least back before Prior was born. Tom Seaver had met Prior once before, at a banquet, but the two did not have a chance to chat then. This time they spent 10 minutes behind the batting cage at Shea Stadium talking USC and pitching. "It's a thrill," Prior said about talking with Seaver. "He's a great guy." In time, the two may be linked by more than a polite conversation and the Trojan alumni newsletter. Prior, like Seaver, has emerged from college as close to a polished, finished product as you could want. The 22-year-old Cub, like Seaver, is the prototypical No. 1 starter with awards, greatness, and -- dare we say it, Cubbies fans? -- a pennant or two within the realm of possibility. Seaver came to be known as The Franchise, a nod to the importance of one player to an organization. Prior has the same potential value. "There have been only two players in the last 10 years who were worth what you had to spend to get them in the [amateur] free agent draft," one NL scout said. "One is Prior. The other is Alex Rodriguez. Those are the only two guys in the last 10 years who were truly special. You looked at them and just knew how great they were. The rest of them are pretty interchangeable. "We should be more prepared to walk away from some picks. Just because you're drafted in the first round doesn't mean you're special. I'll take my chances with guys in rounds two through 10 before I fall in love with a No. 1 pick. But A-Rod and Prior are the two exceptions." Seaver was also a can't-miss pitcher who fell into the hands of the Mets in a special 1966 lottery in which they won out over the Phillies and Indians. Last Thursday, Prior struck out 16 batters, a career high, in what was his 35th big league game. Check out how Prior compares to Seaver at the same point in Seaver's career:
Seaver, as pitchers did back in 1967, went deeper into games and thus picked up a few more decisions. Prior has exhibited slightly better control and simply blows away Seaver's strikeout rate. In 1968, 25-year-old left-hander Jerry Koosman joined Seaver as a full-time starter in the Mets' rotation. The pair won 310 games combined over 10 seasons, forming one of the best sustained pitching tandems of their era. Prior also has a young running mate who should stick with him in the Cubs' rotation for a while: Kerry Wood, who turned 26 on June 16. Wood was supposed to be the next Roger Clemens, but the Chicago right-hander has been slowed by injuries and has yet to win more than 13 games in a season. Still, Wood has won 60 percent of his decisions (53-35) and averaged 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Wood and Prior rank 1-2 in the NL in strikeouts this season. Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale were both 26 when they finished 1-2 in 1962. What makes Prior and Wood so special is their enormous strikeout rate. They are preying on hitters in an era in which nobody chokes up on the bat and nobody makes use of a compact two-strike swing to put the ball in play. The less the ball is put into play, the less "luck", as pitchers call hits that fall in or plays that aren't made, becomes a factor. There is, however, a potential wear and tear factor that comes along with all those strikeouts. Wood, whose pitch count has been the source of more public debate than any other hurler in recent years, is averaging a career-high 113.5 pitches per start this season. Prior is averaging 111.9 pitches per start, which may seem high, but his build and his mechanics suggest he carries that kind of workload well. Prior and Wood may be the toughest tandem to hit in the big leagues, but would I take them over any other set of young starters in the majors? No. I have to give the edge to Barry Zito, 25, and Mark Mulder, 25, of the A's. (Let's limit the discussion to pitchers no older than Wood.) Zito and Mulder, already working in their fourth season together in the Oakland rotation, are entirely different pitchers than Prior and Wood, beginning with their lefthandedness. They each average a bit more than five strikeouts per nine innings. Oakland pitching coach Rick Peterson rarely allows them to surpass 110 pitches. Each is slightly more finished in terms of knowing their craft than Prior and Wood. The nagging thought, too, is that Wood's surgical history and violent delivery (though it's much tamer than the 1998 version) introduce a stronger health risk than the other pitchers. That may not be fair, considering that virtually all pitchers eventually break down; perhaps Wood just suffered his one major setback early in his career. Prior and Wood are two of the most exciting pitchers in the game today -- regardless of age -- and the idea of what they might do together in their careers is fascinating. But in the names of Rick Langford and Mike Norris, Jim Merritt and Wayne Simpson, Jason Isringhausen and Paul Wilson, and all the other young tandems that never did pan out, we need to give Prior and Wood more time together before we rate their place in history. On stuff alone, however, they can make you think a Seaver-Koosman kind of productivity is possible. Eventually, they may even change my mind about the ranking of the Top 10 young tandems in baseball right now (listed below): For the time being, however, Prior and Wood fall just behind Zito and Mulder.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.
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