As some of you may already know, at MajorLeagueReport.com I have been tracking each of David Price’s minor league starts all season long on his road to the majors, which was a feature cleverly titled by yours truly the ‘David ‘Price Check.” After each of his starts, many of which I listened to on the radio or read recaps of, I would do a quick writeup with his stat line and other information that you sometimes could not get from just his stats.

Now that Price is in the majors I am having withdrawls from promoting the Montgomery Biscuits so I figured this would be the perfect time for a little recap.

Before the season started, there was a scramble for owners to draft last years #1 overall pick, even in some leagues for just one season in the later rounds. Some expected him to be up within a month, after all he had already pitched in college which some consider to be equivilant to Single-A ball these days. Some expected him to remain in Double-A and Triple-A for the duration of the year and wait til 2009 to debut for the Rays.

Either way, the 6′ 6” left hander started out the season in Class A Advanced with the Vero Beach Rays where he started six games, winning four of them, and recieving a no decision in the others. Price held his own with a 1.82 ERA and didn’t allow a single home run in 34.2 innings of work.

His stuff was dominating the FSL with a 9+ K/9 rate and that led him to Double-A Montgomery (in other words, ‘It’s time for the Biscuits show!’ as they say in Montgomery). In Montgomery is where a lot more attention caught on and many believed that he would only start around five games before being polished in Triple-A and sent to the majors by August.

Those who thought that were flat out wrong because Price would stay in Montgomery for nine starts. We started following the southpaw in mid-July, the day before he allowed his first career home run on July 18. This may have been the craziest game he pitched in all year, due to a power failure with a lighting bank in the outfield which forced him out of the game early after just five innings of work allowing three solo home runs and striking out three batters.

In his next start he was once again held to a no-decision against the Tennessee Smokies where he lasted six innings striking out six batters, but the game ventured into extra innings. Building up stamina, Price lasted eight innings in his next start striking out seven batters allowing two hits and two runs. Attention was building on Price and so was his success when in his best minor league start he struck out ten batters in seven innings.

All of his Double-A success led to him being promoted to Triple-A Durham on August 10th where he would face his biggest struggles yet. Although you want your top prospects to succeed because you want them to be the best they can and help your team win, it’s always good for prospects to face failure at times. Price had yet to lose a game in the minors, but that would all change with the Bulls.

In four innings of work, Price allowed seven hits and three runs, but struck out six batters. Things were getting tougher, but this would be and still is his only professional loss. Price averaged only 4.67 innings of work in his next three starts striking out eleven batters. The bright side to Price’s Triple-A stint is that he did not allow a single home run in four starts.

On the 28th of August, the former Commodore was named to the Southern League Post-Season All-Star team and then on September 10th, Price was named USA Today’s Minor League Player of the Year.

As you all now, he is now on the Rays active roster and pitched on the 14th against the depressing New York Yankees where he impressed. Tomorrow he will start for the Rays against the Orioles and possibly continue the success that he has achieved all year.