"In my opinion, he’s pretty damn close. He’s throwing the ball hard, locating his pitches and looks good," said Mortensen, noting that Prior’s fastball has been 90-94 mph. "His fastball is pretty electric. He hides the ball well. A lot of guys get a lot of [downward] plane, but he throws that sneaky one that guys always swing underneath all the time, and he’s locating it to both sides of the plate. It’s worked well with his curveball. He’s getting both fastball and curveball strikeouts, which is huge."