Last week, four years after the Nationals selected the southpaw in the fifth round of the 2020’s canceled COVID-19 draft, the general manager and Director of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo spoke about the left-hander’s rise. Ranked as an organizational success story.
It was the result of a lot of hard work by Parker himself and the Nationals’ player development staff through the minor league system.
“He is a true player development success story.” Lizzo told Audacy’s The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the FAN. “This guy came out of junior college and was a power pitching, strikeout, walk type of guy. We really defined his pitches and really improved his athleticism and mechanics to allow him to do what he does.” He finds the strike zone at a rate that allows him to be successful at his job. ”
The message to Parker during the climb was simple and poignant, and he took it to heart and worked hard for this opportunity.
“He always had a good thing: a left-handed, big-bodied guy who throws in the mid-90s,” Rizzo continued.
“He’s got a hammer curve, he’s got a split finger, and his problem in his amateur career and early pro years was throwing quality strikes. Minor league pitching coaches and our pitching coordinator. I think I told him that when I was watching him.”For years, we were told, “You have to hit the strike zone,” and “If you can’t play beyond the plate, you can’t play.” I did.”
Manager Davey Martinez believed before the trip to Los Angeles that the left-handed pitcher was ready for his first chance in the major leagues after Parker showed a willingness to play zone and trust in himself this spring. he said.
“The way he attacked the strike zone, it seemed like nothing really fazed him. He was very calm,” Martinez said.
After getting over the adrenaline and excitement of his debut, in front of 42,677 fans at Dodger Stadium, Nats leaders saw the poise and composure on the mound they expected.
“He did a really good job,” Martinez said after Parker pitched five innings of 81 pitches, allowing four hits, two runs, no walks and four strikeouts.
“This kid’s heart rate is very low. I’ve known that for a while,” the captain said after the win over the Dodgers.
“And he doesn’t seem to be fazed by anything. He’s going to go attack the zone… and he’s started to use his breaking ball really well, and that’s really helped him.”
“It’s a difficult team to play against, but he did a really, really good job.”
“He goes into the game with a real veteran poise and confidence and control of the situation,” Rizzo told Junkies.
“It was hard to tell that this was his first big league start. I think that says a lot about who he is as a person and how he’s trained and developed to get to where he is at this point.”
How would Parker have handled his first home start Sunday in the series finale against the Astros?
The 24-year-old starting pitcher threw seven scoreless innings, throwing just 73 pitches, 57 strikes, eight strikeouts, and no walks (again), resulting in a 6-0 victory.
Parker had 13 swings and seven whiffs with his splitter, 12 strikes overall, and 14 called strikes, seven each with his fastball and curveball.
How unique a start to a major league career is this?
Mitchell Parker became the fifth pitcher in major league history to strike out at least 12 batters and give up no walks in the first two games of his career…he joins Shota Imanaga, Tanner Bibby, Johnny… Cueto joins Andy Sonanstin.
— Nationals Communications (@NationalsComms) April 21, 2024
Parker is the first National pitcher to pitch 7.0 shutout innings with fewer than 75 pitches (73 pitches)…The first pitcher to pitch 7.0 shutout innings with fewer than 73 pitches was Kyle of Atlanta at Pittsburgh on August 24, 2022・This is the first time since Wright. .
— Nationals Communications (@NationalsComms) April 21, 2024
“He’s attacking the strike zone. He was unbelievable. In both games he was really attacking the strike zone and that’s great,” he said, as the club won two of three games in D.C. Martinez said afterward.
“Really, it was just a mental thing,” Parker said of his willingness to attack the zone. Quoted by Mark Zuckerman of MASN.
“It’s easier to fight if you don’t lose in the count. Just keep attacking and get strikes one, that’s all we’re aiming for.”
“The biggest thing for him in spring training is [understanding] Where are the swings and misses, where are the contacts, right? ” Martinez explained. “And it’s always up/down. It’s never out, so up/down is good for him. He’s got a really good curveball and a really good fastball. His [splitter] Today was really, really good. However, everything was unexpected. So he started doing it in spring training and we started watching him do it and he was lights out. The important thing is to let him grow a little bit.he went 4 times [at Triple-A].he went 5 times [in LA].and we pushed him up at 7 o’clock [Sunday]. He was biting his lip, but he couldn’t do that because we would need him for a long time. ”
Parker only threw a splitter 6% of the time in this game. It rose to 25% in second place at the start.
“He is [splitter] When he’s as good as he was today, he can be really effective,” Martinez added.
“We saw him in Los Angeles. [splitter] It wasn’t very good, so I told him to drop it and go for a curveball or a fastball, and he just did really well with that.
“Today is his [splitter] Good, he threw, and he threw so much [effectively]”
Meneses’ big moment:
Joey Meneses had two hits early in Saturday’s win over the Astros, and his third RBI of the game was a walk-off single to right-center field, hitting Freeman on second base and ending the game in the bottom. . 10th.
Despite a poor start to the season, this big hit meant a lot to the soon-to-be 32-year-old slugger.
“We’ve been struggling and fighting to start the season,” Meneses told reporters. Post-game quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.
“These kinds of at-bats and situations are relaxing in a way. And obviously, I’m excited about it. … I try to feel like every at-bat is a new start. I just focus on that. Don’t be influenced by your previous at-bat.
With this three-hit game, Meneses is now 13-for-60 (.217/.300/.233) with 60 RBIs (.217/.300/.233) early this season.
It wasn’t the start the Nationals were hoping for from their breakout star in the second half of 2022, but he had a power-packed 2023 season that kept the boys in scoring position.
“That was amazing,” Martinez said of Meneses’ big hit. “Hopefully this will get him going, but he got a few hits today. This is his third hit of the day. So we’re going to get him going now and he’s going to be the one we need to push.” I hope we start hitting some runs.”
Meneses hit a weak grounder with a runner in scoring position early in the game, but in the 8th inning, he had two outs and no outs and a strikeout, so his walk-off hit after tying the game and sending the game to overtime was of great significance. .
“He was really frustrated,” Martinez admitted.
“He really is. He feels like he’s letting us down, but he’s not. I always tell him, ‘This game isn’t easy, you’re going to struggle. We’re going to have to try to get you out of it.” Stay in the middle of the field. ‘The biggest thing I want to say to him is, “Hey, you’re in the middle of the field, that’s you, don’t try too hard.” I know there’s a lot of emphasis on him going out and hitting home runs and driving in, but I said, “Doubles is great.” You’ll hit some home runs, but stay in the middle of the field. And like I said, today he came up with a chance to hit a base early, hit some more bases, and churn out runs, and he didn’t do that, but still, when he needed to break through. I was able to win. I’ve seen him do that a lot. So with that last hit, I hope the winner of the match really opens his eyes and realizes who he is and what he has to do and gets back out there. ”
