SAN DIEGO -- A year ago, while still an assistant in the Padres' baseball operations department, Mark Prior wasn't quite sure what to make of the Minor League pitching coordinator job.
"Last year, looking at the coordinator job from a player's perspective, I didn't truly know what was all involved," Prior said.
Prior, the former big league pitcher, has found out quickly enough this spring. He's six-or-so weeks into his job as the first-year Minor League pitching coordinator, where he has a chance to impact pitchers throughout the system.
That has equated to spending the early part of this season bouncing around among the Minor League affiliates -- El Paso (Triple-A), San Antonio (Double-A), Lake Elsinore (High-A), Fort Wayne (low-A) and the extended spring training team in Arizona.