No.

 

Josh Beckett Will be the Best SP in MLB History for the rest of his carear. (I am a Beckett Fan)

Ain't no bigger Beckett fan in the history of the world than myself. Prior>Beckett.

 

But Beckett will finish as the second best SP in history after his career is done, don't worry.

Beckett has shown nothing that he will ever be dominant.

 

 

And you may have said that Prior will be the best last year...I dont know, but the real point is how good he is and how some refuse to believe this.

Forget 25 or 30 and Under

 

Prior > Everybody

Beckett has shown nothing that he will ever be dominant.

7 2/3 shutout ball tonight

 

3 hits

 

0 runs

 

:whistle

 

 

not tonight but a couple weeks ago he was hitting 99-100 he hit 101 mph a couple times.

 

NASSSSSTY stuff.

 

 

he will be dominant. just has to get over blisters, injury etc.

Beckett has shown nothing that he will ever be dominant.

 

 

And you may have said that Prior will be the best last year...I dont know, but the real point is how good he is and how some refuse to believe this.

Josh Beckett

 

This season: 7-7 (misleading), 3.13 ERA, 115 IP, 108 Hits, 119 K's

 

Career: 14-16 (very misleading), 3.50 ERA, 239 IP, 212 Hits, 249 K's

 

Yea, more K's than IP and less hits than IP. No signs of current/future dominance there.

so far so good.....

 

 

 

but not 'dominating' like prior.

Josh Beckett

 

This season: 7-7 (misleading), 3.13 ERA, 115 IP, 108 Hits, 119 K's

 

Career: 14-16 (very misleading), 3.50 ERA, 239 IP, 212 Hits, 249 K's

 

Yea, more K's than IP and less hits than IP. No signs of current/future dominance there.

You left out 98 BBs in 239 innings (3.7 per 9 Inn) and 0 complete games in his career in 44 starts.

 

Prior walks 2.4 per 9 Inn and has 4 CG in the same number of starts.

 

Prior WHIP: 1.04

Beckett WHIP: 1.38

 

Beckett may have comparable stuff but Prior is by far the more dominant and more effective pitcher right now.

Prior has better command of his pitches than any other 22 year old in the history of baseball.

I don't know about that. Tom Seaver as a 22 year old rookie had pretty good command. Dwight Gooden's command was also really good at an even younger age - he still had excellent command at 22 until he started really getting into drugs. Gooden was 20 when he had a season more dominating than anything Prior has done so far.

 

Vida Blue only walked 88 in 312 IP as a 21 year old. Jim Hunter walked 69 in 234 IP as a 22 year old.

 

Going back further, Walter Johnson walked 76 in 370 IP as a 22 year old.

 

I didn't even look very hard to get those names; I'm probably missing some really obvious ones. So, I'd say Prior's command is comparable to some of the best of all time at that age but I wouldn't say it's the best. And while he's the most dominating young pitcher to come along in a while, Gooden was the most dominating young pitcher I've ever seen.

 

But right now, if I could pick one guy in baseball to start a pitching staff, it would be Mark Prior.

There is more to command over pitching than just being able to throw the ball over the plate. A lot more.

There is more to command over pitching than just being able to throw the ball over the plate. A lot more.

What makes you think that Prior has the best command of any 22 year old in baseball history?

 

Those pitchers struck out a lot of people and didn't walk anybody. How do you define command? Did you ever see Seaver pitch? Did you see a 20 year old Gooden pitch? You do know they played baseball before 1986, don't you?

What makes you think that Prior has the best command of any 22 year old in baseball history?

 

Those pitchers struck out a lot of people and didn't walk anybody. How do you define command? Did you ever see Seaver pitch? Did you see a 20 year old Gooden pitch? You do know they played baseball before 1986, don't you?

Ok, listen up. Sure, Tom Seaver was a great pitcher, as was Gooden in his early years. The bottom line? Both, as 22 year olds, pitched in 2 of the most dominant pitching eras in history. You know what the average ERA in the National League was in 1967? 3.38. Tom Seaver's ERA when he was 22 in 1967? 2.76. It would be foolish to say Seaver was a better pitcher at this time in his career, because he wasn't. And if you want to use that whole amount of walks stuff, Seaver had 2.8 walks per 9 innings in 1967, as a 22 year old. Prior? 2.2.

 

As for Dwight Gooden, as a 22 year old he pitched when the hitter's era was just starting. The average ERA was 4.06, and he came in with a 3.21 ERA. His walks per 9 innings at 22? 2.65.

 

So let's look at what little stats you may actually be able to use as "command" stats at the age of 22.

 

Tom Seaver- 2.76 BB/9

Dwight Gooden- 2.65 BB/9

Mark Prior- 2.2 BB/9

 

Now maybe you prefer K/BB?

 

Tom Seaver- 2.18

Dwight Gooden- 2.79

Mark Prior- 4.71

 

Quite the difference there.

Now if you look at the overall performance of themselves when they were 22 to their league, you get this-

 

Tom Seaver- 2.76 ERA, 1.20 WHIP

1967 National League- 3.38 ERA, 1.26 WHIP

Dwight Gooden- 3.21 ERA, 1.20 WHIP

1987 National League- 4.08 ERA, 1.37 WHIP

Mark Prior- 2.36 ERA, 1.04 WHIP

2003 National League- 4.27 ERA, 1.38 WHIP

 

So as you can see, as 22 year olds, Prior not only does better but just eclipses those two in terms of total league performance.

 

And as you'll bring up, Dwight Gooden's BB/9 and K/BB leading to 22 years old, even though we are talking about as 22 year olds right now.

 

First number is BB/9 IP, second K/BB

 

19- 3.01, 3.78

20- 2.24, 3.88

21- 2.88, 2.50

 

None of those numbers beat Prior's either.

 

Dwight Gooden (19)- 2.60 ERA, 1.07 WHIP

1984 National League- 3.59 ERA, 1.31 WHIP

Dwight Gooden (20)- 1.53 ERA, .97 WHIP

1985 National League- 3.59 ERA, 1.32 WHIP

Dwight Gooden (21)- 2.84 ERA, 1.11 WHIP

1986 National League- 3.72 ERA, 1.33 WHIP

 

So as you can see, Mark Prior this season is actually having a better season than Dwight Gooden did in his famed 1985 season.

 

You know they played baseball after 1985, don't you?

but not 'dominating' like prior.

As true as that is, he still has another 15+ years to pass Mark.

you say that like prior will not continue to improve.

Yeah.. Mark isn't just all of a sudden done being amazing and getting better and better.

you say that like prior will not continue to improve.

You never know.

and its guaranteed that beckett will improve.

 

 

 

damn sometimes you homers are something else.

Players I would take over Prior right now:

 

Schilling, Pedro, Javier Vasquez, Halladay, Zito, Hudson, and Mulder.

I know Vaz has dominated the Phils and that probably makes him look like Cy Young to you :shifty but I'll take Prior any day of the week instead of Javy.

 

 

also, with Baker in charge, Prior is a Tommy John candidate within 3 years. God Baker is such an overrated manager..