Background and career
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.
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.
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 69+1⁄3 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 110+1⁄3 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 133+1⁄3 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.
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 28+2⁄3 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.
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 34+2⁄3 innings pitched.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
