Prior on his way back

PEORIA, Ariz. -- When Mark Prior got back on a big league mound for the first time since having extensive shoulder surgery, he couldn’t have been further removed from his brilliant 2003 season.

It was January, and San Diego’s Petco Park was empty. His catcher, appropriately, was the team trainer.

“There was a little bit of excitement and anxiety about it,” Prior said. “I think when it was over with I felt like there was a little bit of accomplishment.”

Todd Hutcheson, the trainer who sometimes straps on catching gear to help pitchers get in off-season work, didn’t have to put down any signs that day. Prior threw only fastballs.

“If you broke it into thirds, I’m at the two-thirds way home and the last third is probably going to be the hardest third,” Prior said after one of his every-fifth-day spring training throwing sessions.

That day at Petco Park, he said, “was another nice kind of milestone or goal, because a lot of guys, as minor a surgery is or as big a surgery is, for some reason don’t get back to even being able to doing that.”

Now a member of his hometown Padres, Prior is trying to resurrect a career that was so promising five summers ago with the Chicago Cubs, only to be undone by a seemingly nonstop string of injuries.

He missed all of 2007 with the Cubs after undergoing arthroscopic surgery last April to repair his right rotator cuff, labrum and capsule. He hasn’t pitched in a game since Aug. 10, 2006.

The tall right-hander was once thought to be the Cubs’ ace of the future. It’s anyone’s guess whether Prior can come close to regaining his 2003 form.

He finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting that season, when he was 18-6 with a 4.24 ERA and struck out 245 in 211 1/3 innings.

That October, he was on the mound for Game 6 of the NL championship series against Florida with the Cubs leading the series, 3-2. Chicago led by three runs in the eighth inning before the Marlins, helped by fan Steve Bartman’s interference on a foul ball at Wrigley Field, rallied to win. Florida won Game 7, then went on to win the World Series.

Prior has won just 18 games since then.

Greg Maddux, going into his second season in San Diego, was Prior’s teammate for 2 1/2 seasons with the Cubs.

“He was dominant,” Maddux said. “He had quick innings, he threw strikes, had good location, good breaking ball, good mound presence, hitters weren’t very comfortable. Yeah, solid. He was very sure of what he wanted to do.

“He just needs to get himself healthy. I think once he feels comfortable with his health he can worry about getting hitters out instead of getting back on the mound.”

Maddux and Prior are quite the contrast. The 42-year-old Maddux is going into his 22nd season and has been remarkably injury free while piling up Hall of Fame credentials. Prior has had more than his share of arm trouble and freak injuries.

“I’m fortunate that I had this at 27 [rather] than 37,” Prior said. “Guys are pitching late in their careers, and hopefully things will work out and I can put this chapter behind me and move on.”

Prior said he’s worked hard to be upbeat and confident about his rehab.

“It’s not like every day’s been a birthday and it’s been great. There have been some tough days,” he said. “But it’s been just kind of having an approach, ‘OK, I’ve got everything sound, I had a lot in there that was wrong and I got it fixed.’ And I think that kind of gave me some closure. It was a long summer and fall but everything’s been great.”

If everything goes OK through spring training and the requisite minor league rehab starts, Prior is expected to make his Padres debut sometime around June 1. He’ll join one of the best staffs in the majors, which includes reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, 6-foot-10 right-hander Chris Young, Maddux and Randy Wolf, who’s also coming off shoulder surgery.