This Prior engagement producing Lauer power

For a 20-year-old Eric Lauer, fresh out of Kent State University in 2016, talking pitching with Mark Prior made the major leagues feel closer.

- BY MADDIE LEE

"We were so young," Lauer said in a conversation with The Times, "that it was kind of funny, because everybody was like, 'Oh my God, it's Mark Prior."" Prior, the beloved former Chicago Cubs All-Star, finished third in National League Cy Young voting when Lauer was 8 years old.

"He was one of the first experiences I had where I was like: 'OK, like, these elite big leaguers are just normal guys. They're just like us,"" Lauer said.

Prior was a "high-level thinker," as Lauer put it, who steered him toward in-depth self-evaluation.

But he also was just "a normal dude." The two have reunited with the Dodgers. The 30year-old Lauer who held Colorado to one run and four hits in his six-inning debut Tuesday as the Dodgers beat the Rockies 15-6- was a midseason addition as injuries thinned the team's starting pitching depth. Prior has been on the Dodgers' coaching staff since 2018, serving as the pitching coach since 2020.

But when they first met, Lauer was a 2016 first-round draft pick of the San Diego Pades, and Prior was the minor-league pitching coordinator.