By Jeff Vorva
March 19, 2002

Mark Prior Photo: Denton Hanna

MESA, Ariz.—White Sox slugger Frank Thomas is convinced.

"He can pitch in the big leagues," the Big Hurt said.

Cubs manager Don Baylor is convinced.

"That would solve the fifth starter (decision), wouldn’t it?" Baylor said.

When heralded Cubs prospect Mark Prior struck out seven frontline White Sox players in an exhibition game March 8, he made a believer out of a lot of people that he should be with the team when camp breaks—even though he has not thrown a regular season professional inning.

The 21-year-old, a former Southern California star who was taken second overall in last June’s draft but didn’t sign until August, is causing a stir in camp.

Baylor will not knock team president/general manager Andy MacPhail and vice president of player personnel Jim Hendry’s opinion that Prior needs minor league seasoning before diving into the majors.

But Baylor admits he would like to see Prior in a Cubs uniform as soon as possible.

"He’s not a September callup, I’ll tell you that," Baylor said. "Our guys really like him a lot, but they all agree he needs experience. He hasn’t pitched since the College World Series last year. He’s going to have to get some innings under his belt."

But not too many innings. Prior will likely go to Double-A West Tenn and Baylor joked that he wanted management to guarantee him "in writing" that Prior would be with the club by May 1.

While Prior is making waves with his pitching, he is not making waves with his mouth.

"If I get sent down, I’ll pay my dues like everyone else," he said. "Obviously I want to be on the team. But it’s their decision and I understand what they are thinking and what they are faced with."

On March 14, he had a rougher outing as the Giants tagged him for five runs in two innings. You could say he was brought down to earth, but his feet never left the ground after the success against the White Sox.

"Everybody expects that (success), but the way I’ve been taught is that for every 10 starts you’ll have two unreal starts, two horse—starts and six you will have to fight," he said. "I never thought it would just be roses."

Prior already owns an impressive fastball, but in spring training he has worked on new grip for his changeup in which he digs the ball deep into his palm.

Thomas took a called third strike in his first appearance against Prior.

"When he got me, I thought ‘OK,’ " Thomas said. "Then when he struck out Magglio (Ordonez), I knew he was for real. I don’t see the Cubs wasting too much time with that kid. He has tremendous potential."