David Price

David Taylor Price (born August 26, 1985) is a former American professional baseball pitcher. He was the first overall pick in the 2007 MLB draft, taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and debuted in the majors in September 2008. Over his career, he also pitched for the Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Price came up as a reliever during Tampa Bay’s 2008 playoff run. Just weeks after his first big-league appearance, he notched a save in Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS, sending the Rays to their first World Series. He became a full-time starter in 2009. By his second full season, he was the American League’s starting pitcher in the 2010 All-Star Game and finished runner-up for the Cy Young Award that year. He won the Cy Young in 2012.

The Rays traded Price to the Tigers midway through the 2014 season. In 2015, after Detroit fell out of contention, they dealt him to the Blue Jays, who won their division and reached the ALCS. That winter, the Red Sox signed Price to a franchise-record seven-year, $217 million deal—then the largest contract total ever for a pitcher. He started and won the clinching Game 5 as Boston beat the Dodgers in the 2018 World Series. After the 2019 season, the Red Sox traded him to Los Angeles. Price was part of the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series championship team, though he opted out of the pandemic-shortened season and did not play a single game.

Price was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and has two brothers. He started playing baseball as a young child and grew up an Atlanta Braves fan, idolizing outfielder David Justice. As a teenager, he attended Cooperstown Dreams Park and starred on both the baseball and basketball teams at Blackman High School. In high school, he posted a 0.43 ERA with 151 strikeouts. He was named Rutherford County MVP Pitcher in 2003 and 2004, shared Co-District 7AAA Pitcher of the Year honors with Michael Alcorn as a senior, and was Rutherford County Male Athlete of the Year in 2002, 2003, and 2004. He also played in the 2004 High School All-America Game in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 19th round of the 2004 draft out of high school, Price chose not to sign and instead attended Vanderbilt University on an academic scholarship, playing three seasons for the baseball team.

As a freshman in 2005, he was named a Freshman All-American by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, going 2–4 with a 2.86 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 69 1/3 innings over 19 games. Frustrated with his college workload, he nearly quit baseball to work at a McDonald’s in his hometown, but his coach, Tim Corbin, talked him out of it.

In 2006, Price went 9–5 with a 4.16 ERA over 110 1/3 innings, setting a school single-season record with 155 strikeouts against 43 walks. He recorded 10 or more strikeouts in six straight starts early that season, including a 17-strikeout game against Arkansas. He was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, a semifinalist for the Roger Clemens Award, and earned third-team All-American honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, first-team All-South Region from the American Baseball Coaches Association, and second-team All-SEC.

As a junior, he went 11–1 with a 2.63 ERA. He led the nation in strikeouts with 194 over 133 1/3 innings, breaking his own school record. His final SEC start came against Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament, where he threw a complete game, allowing five hits, two runs, and striking out 11 without a walk. His last college start was against Austin Peay in Vanderbilt’s first game of the 2007 Nashville Regional; he struck out 17 batters over nine innings, giving up five hits, one run, and two walks. Price swept college baseball’s major awards, including the 2007 Dick Howser Trophy and the 2007 Brooks Wallace Award.

In the summer of 2005, Price pitched for the U.S. National Team, going 2–0 with a 1.26 ERA in five games, striking out 39 and walking 13 over 28 2/3 innings. On August 2, 2005, he threw a complete-game shutout against Nicaragua, allowing just five hits. In the summer of 2006, he helped the U.S. win the gold medal at the World University Baseball Championship in Cuba, posting a 5–1 record and a 0.20 ERA over eight starts.

Price was selected first overall in the 2007 MLB draft and signed his first professional contract on August 15, 2007. The six-year deal was worth $11.25 million ($8.5 million guaranteed), including a $5.6 million signing bonus. After MLB approved the contract, he was added to the Devil Rays’ 40-man roster and optioned to the minors. The total value of his bonus was the largest in draft history at the time; the signing bonus itself was second only to Justin Upton’s $6.1 million from 2005, and the guaranteed value was third behind Mark Prior ($10.5 million) and Mark Teixeira ($9.5 million) from the 2001 draft.