Mitchell Parker’s first start:
Mitchell Parker, a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, made his MLB debut in mid-April at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The 25-year-old left-handed pitcher, who will soon be returning to the major leagues, threw 81 pitches over five innings, allowing two runs with no walks and striking out four batters.
Parker was promoted shortly after Josiah Gray’s season-ending elbow injury and, despite being called up earlier than he should have out of necessity, remained in the major leagues and started 28 games before his final appearance on the mound Tuesday night.
“He’s come a long way. For us, he’s way ahead of the game,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters before the start of Parker’s final home game of the season, his 29th start. “He’s done really well. I know he’s had his ups and downs recently, but he should be proud of his accomplishments.”
“We watched him in spring training and talked a lot about walk rate, lowering his walk rate, attacking the strike zone, being more efficient. He did all of that and did it well.”
“And he’s off to a really good start for us, so he’s got to go home this winter. He’s got to finish today strong, go home this winter and just keep on growing from there. I think this kid has a bright future. I really do.”
“He throws a really good pitch and his split is really good. He’s also going to be working hard on his curveball and fastball placement.”
“That’s what makes him special. If he can get a good grip on his fastball and pitch it for strikes, his split will be even better.”
As the seventh-year captain explained, those were the only two pitches Parker had in his debut against the Dodgers.
“I remember his first start against the Dodgers, and it was not an easy task,” Martinez recalled. “He couldn’t throw his curveball for strikes. I came in and said, ‘Hey, two pitches,’ and he looked at me like, ‘Ha!’ I said, ‘I’m not throwing curveballs anymore, because that’s just going to get you in trouble.’ I said, ‘Throw a splitter and a fastball.’ He said, ‘Okay.’ He came in and pitched five innings, and I said, ‘If you don’t figure out how to throw your curveball for strikes, you’re just going to have to give up. It’s not going well right now.’ But that must have been pretty nerve-wracking, too, because he was at Dodger Stadium, facing a really good lineup, and he held up really well.”
“The funny thing is, when I talked to Freddie [Freeman] “And he says, ‘Man, that guy’s got a horrible split, and his fastball has some extension late on.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s a pretty good combination.’ And I said, ‘What did you think of his curveball?’ And he said, ‘What curveball?’ And I said, ‘Exactly, yeah.’ But he learned a lot. He learned a lot about himself, which is great.”
Mitchell Parker’s final start of 2024:
Parker started last week at Citi Field and struggled, giving up seven hits, two walks and five runs in three innings. 2⁄3 He pitched three innings. In the third inning, five batters reached base in a row, scoring four runs. He threw 78 pitches, two more than in the sixth inning, and finished pitching for the day. 1⁄3 The last time I went out.
“My pitches just weren’t going well,” Parker told reporters. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.
“I got down to two strikes and I just couldn’t score anything. You can’t walk two batters and expect something bad to not happen, especially against this team.”
“He pitched well,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters after the 10-1 loss to the Mets, “but he just didn’t control the strike zone. He got off to a big slow start. He threw a lot of extra pitches in those three innings.”
“He’s off to a really good start,” Martinez added when asked about Parker’s rookie season overall.
“My performance dropped off a little bit in the middle of the game, but then I got better. I was better the last couple of games, but this game, like I said, I just threw more pitches.
“His pitches were still good, but he just couldn’t find the strike zone.”
Parker dealt with some early adversity in last night’s series opener against the Kansas City Royals in the nation’s capital, avoiding errors and consecutive hits after waiting out a 40-minute rain stoppage.
He got six straight outs after the first three batters reached base, then allowed a hit and a walk with one out and a walk with the bases loaded and two outs, then allowed consecutive hits with two outs in the fourth to leave runners on base, and then got the Royals out in order for the fifth and final inning of the game (and season).
Parker gave up no runs in five innings, walked two and struck out five, throwing 91 pitches, throwing 59 for strikes, whiffing on 12 and calling 15 for strikes. The game ended in a 0-1 loss in extra innings, but the game was indecisive.
“Mitchell Parker did a great job. It was great to see him finish like that,” Martinez said after the game.
He finished the season with a 4.29 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 43 walks (2.56 walks per nine innings), 133 strikeouts (7.93 strikeouts per nine innings) and 18 home runs allowed (1.07 home runs per nine innings) in 151 innings across 29 starts.
“I thought he pitched really well,” Martinez continued.
“He came off a bad hit in the first inning and made an unbelievable play (for the third out), but after that first inning he really settled in and had really good control of the strike zone.”
“I told him, ‘That’s great. That’s a good way to end it. Let’s build on it.'”
“He can go home and really say, ‘Hey, I did great, I’m going to get better in the winter and come back ready in the spring.’