David Taylor Price (born August 26, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Price was selected first overall in the 2007 Major League Baseball draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in September 2008. He also played for the Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Price pitched as a relief pitcher during the Rays' run through the 2008 playoffs. Weeks after his first appearance in the big leagues, he earned a save in Game 7 of the 2008 American League Championship Series (ALCS), helping the Rays reach their first World Series. Price became a full-time starting pitcher in 2009. In his second full season, he was named the American League starter for the 2010 All-Star Game and finished second in the voting for the 2010 Cy Young Award. He won the award in 2012.
The Rays traded Price to the Tigers during the 2014 season. When the Tigers fell out of the postseason race in 2015, they traded him to the Blue Jays, who won their division and advanced to the ALCS. That following off-season, the Red Sox signed Price to a franchise-record seven-year, $217 million contract. At the time, it was the largest contract total for a pitcher in Major League history. He won the series-clinching Game 5 as the Red Sox won the 2018 World Series over the Dodgers. The Red Sox traded him to the Dodgers after the 2019 season. He was part of the Los Angeles Dodgers team that won the 2020 World Series, although he did not play a single game after deciding to sit out the COVID-19 pandemic shortened season.
Early life David Taylor Price was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He has two brothers. He began playing baseball in his early childhood. He grew up as an Atlanta Braves fan and idolized outfielder David Justice. He attended Cooperstown Dreams Park as a teenager, and was a standout on the Blackman High School baseball and basketball teams. In his high school career, he compiled a 0.43 earned run average (ERA) and 151 strikeouts. He received the Rutherford County MVP Pitcher (2003 and 2004), the Co-District 7AAA Pitcher of the Year with Michael Alcorn his senior season, and the Rutherford County Male Athlete of the Year in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He played in the 2004 High School All-America Game in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
College career Though Price was drafted in the 19th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school, he did not sign, and instead chose to attend Vanderbilt University on an academic scholarship. He pitched for the baseball team for three seasons.
In his freshman season in 2005, Price was honored as a Freshman All-American by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. That year he went 2–4 with a 2.86 ERA in 19 games, compiling 92 strikeouts in innings pitched. Still, frustrated with his college workload, Price almost quit baseball to work at a McDonald's in his hometown but was talked out of it by his coach, Tim Corbin.
In 2006, Price posted a 9–5 record with a 4.16 ERA in innings pitched. He set a school single-season record in strikeouts with 155 while walking only 43 batters. In six starts early in the season, he recorded 10 or more strikeouts each game, including a 17-strikeout performance in a game against Arkansas. That year, he was one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award and a semifinalist for the Roger Clemens Award. He was also named to the third-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, first-team All-South Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association and second-team All-SEC by the coaches in that conference.
As a junior, he tallied an 11–1 record with a 2.63 ERA. He was the nation's top strikeout pitcher, striking out 194 batters over innings, breaking his own school record. His last start against SEC competition came against Mississippi State in the SEC Baseball Tournament. Price pitched a complete game, going nine innings while giving up five hits, two runs, and striking out 11 batters with no walks. His last start at the college level came against Austin Peay in Vanderbilt's first game in the 2007 Nashville Regional. Against Austin Peay, Price retired 17 batters via the strikeout in nine innings of work while yielding just five hits, one run, and two walks. Price won several major national awards, including college baseball's top honor, the 2007 Dick Howser Trophy, and the 2007 Brooks Wallace Award. David Price was the first player to have a clean sweep of all the college baseball awards.
United States National Team In the summer of 2005, Price pitched for the United States National Team. He went 2–0 with a 1.26 ERA in five games, tallying 39 strikeouts and 13 walks over innings. On August 2, 2005, he pitched a complete game shutout over Nicaragua, only allowing five hits. In the summer of 2006, Price helped the United States take home the gold medal in the World University Baseball Championship held in Cuba. In eight starts for the United States, Price was 5–1 with a 0.20 ERA.
Professional career Draft and minor leagues Price was drafted with the first-overall pick of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. He signed his first professional contract on August 15, 2007. The six-year contract was worth $11.25 million ($8.5 million guaranteed), including a $5.6 million signing bonus. After the contract was approved by MLB, he was added to the Devil Rays 40-man roster before being optioned to the minor leagues to begin his career.
The total value of Price's bonus was the largest in draft history. The signing bonus was second-largest in draft history, behind only the $6.1 million Justin Upton received from the Arizona Diamondbacks as the top overall pick in the 2005 MLB draft. The guaranteed value was the third-highest in draft history, trailing only Mark Prior ($10.5 million) and Mark Teixeira ($9.5 million) from the 2001 draft. Price made his spring training debut against the Yankees, hitting the first batter he faced, Francisco Cervelli, and striking out the next three in one inning of work.
Price was first assigned to pitch for the Vero Beach Devil Rays of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. He started six games for Vero Beach, compiling a record of 4–0. He had an ERA of 1.82 with 37 strikeouts in innings pitched.
In his second start in Vero Beach, Price pitched against Pedro Martínez. After the game, Martínez said of Price:
After moving up through the Rays minor league system to the Montgomery Biscuits of the Class AA Southern League in July, Price was promoted to the Durham Bulls of the Class AAA International League on August 9, 2008. After compiling an 11–0 combined record at Single-A and Double-A, Price received his first professional loss in his first start at Triple-A Durham.
Tampa Bay Rays (2008–2014) 2008 Price made his major league debut with the Tampa Bay Rays on September 14, 2008, against the Yankees. The first MLB hit he allowed was a home run by New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter; Jeter later recorded his 3,000th hit by again homering off Price in 2011. Price pitched innings of relief; he made his first major league start with the Rays on September 22, 2008, against the Baltimore Orioles. He was the winning pitcher in Game 2 of the 2008 ALCS against the Boston Red Sox, earning a postseason victory before winning a regular-season game. Price recorded the final four outs in Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS, earning his first career save (regular season or postseason; postseason statistics are recorded separately) and eliminating the defending champion Red Sox. Price then pitched innings in Game 2 of the 2008 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies; he gave up two earned runs but nevertheless earned his second postseason save. The next day, Price introduced Barack Obama at a campaign rally in Tampa.
2009 On May 30, 2009, Price collected his first major league regular-season win with a 5–2 victory over the Minnesota Twins in which he struck out 11 batters in under 6 innings. He completed the season with a 10–7 record, a 4.42 ERA, 102 strikeouts, and 54 walks in 23 starts.
2010: Breakout season In the 2010 season, Price was the first American League pitcher to reach 10 wins, on June 15. On that date, he was 10–2 and led the league with a 2.31 ERA. Price was selected as the American League starting pitcher for the 2010 All-Star Game.
He finished the 2010 season tied for second in the American League (with Jon Lester) in wins (19) and in third place in ERA (2.72). He was eighth in the league in strikeouts with 188. He finished second in voting for the AL Cy Young Award behind Félix Hernández.
He lost Games 1 and 5 of the 2010 American League Division Series against Cliff Lee and the Texas Rangers.
2011 During a game against the Yankees on July 9, 2011, Price allowed a home run to Derek Jeter, which was Jeter's 3,000th career hit. Price finished 2011 with a 12–13 record, 218 strikeouts, and a 3.49 ERA in 34 games started.
2012: Cy Young Award In 2012, Price went 20–5 on the season (tying for the league lead in wins) with a league-leading 2.54 ERA. Price pitched a complete-game shutout against the Los Angeles Angels on April 24, 2012, with the final score 5–0. Price pitched in the 2012 MLB All-Star Game. Price got his 20th win against the Chicago White Sox on September 30, making him the first 20-win pitcher in Rays franchise history. In recording the win, he became the youngest American League pitcher (aged 27) to earn 20 wins in a season since 2004. Price won the AL Cy Young Award after a tight race.
2013
In 2013, Price went 10–8 on the season with a 3.33 ERA, and had an American League-leading and career-best four complete games. In the 2013 American League Wild Card tie-breaker against the Texas Rangers, Price pitched a complete game to lead the Rays into the postseason.
2014 From June 4 to 25, Price had five consecutive starts with at least ten strikeouts, becoming only the eighth pitcher in major league history to do so.
On July 6, Price was named to his fourth All-Star team; he did not participate in this All-Star game due to pitching in a game two days prior, avoiding pitching on only one day of rest. He was replaced by Fernando Rodney.
Before a July 31 trade to the Detroit Tigers, Price had a record of 11–8, with a 3.11 ERA, 189 strikeouts, and 23 walks in 23 starts with the Rays.
Detroit Tigers (2014–2015) 2014: MLB Strikeouts leader On July 31, Price was traded to the Detroit Tigers in a three-team deal that sent Drew Smyly, Nick Franklin and Willy Adames to the Tampa Bay Rays, and Austin Jackson to the Seattle Mariners. In his Tigers debut against the New York Yankees on August 5, Price pitched innings, allowing three runs, striking out ten, and walking none.
On August 21, in his first game against his former team, the Tampa Bay Rays, Price allowed one hit and an unearned run with one out in the first inning, then retired the final 23 batters he faced, but suffered a complete game loss. Price is the first pitcher in the major leagues to lose a complete game, one-hitter or better, with no earned runs since Andy Hawkins lost a no-hitter for the New York Yankees on July 1, 1990. It was the first time since 1914 that a pitcher has lost a complete game, one-hit, no walk start without allowing an earned run.
On August 27, in a game against the Yankees, Price allowed eight runs and twelve hits, including nine straight in the third inning of an 8–4 loss. He is the first pitcher since Bob Forsch in 1989 to allow nine straight hits. Only three previous times in major league history had a pitcher allowed 12 hits in two innings or fewer, the others being Shawn Estes in 2003, Johnny Podres in 1963 and George Uhle in 1929.