Sep 10, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Grounds crew members work on the field during a rain delay before a game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 10, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Grounds crew members work on the field during a rain delay before a game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
The Atlanta Braves unearthed a gem in Wes Parsons and he had a solid 2016. Could he be a future starter for the team?
Who Is He?
Parsons was signed by the Atlanta Braves as an undrafted free agent in 2013 out of Jackson State Community College. The Braves sent him directly to low-A Rome in the South Atlantic League, a fairly aggressive initial assignment for a 20 year-old straight out of community college, but Parsons performed well, posting a 2.63 ERA over 109 2/3 innings with a 1.02 WHIP and a 21/101 BB/K ratio.
Parsons struggled when he was promoted to high-A Lynchburg in the Carolina League in 2014. He made 23 starts, throwing 113 innings, posting a 5.02 ERA and 1.35 WHIP along with a 34/96 BB/K ratio.
In the offseason, it was revealed that Parsons had pitched much of the 2014 season injured, and he struggled to get back onto the field in 2015. He made only 5 appearances total, one each with Rome and Carolina, along with 3 at the Gulf Coast League. He threw a total of 19 2/3 innings, posting a 2.75 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP with a 1/16 BB/K ratio in those limited innings.
Parsons was still working to get healthy in 2016, and after starting the season in the Carolina bullpen, he was injured and returned through the Gulf Coast League. He returned to Carolina, but now as a member of the rotation, and he threw so well he ended the season with a game at AA Mississippi. His final tally on the season overall was 21 appearances, 9 of them starts, throwing 66 2/3 innings with a 3.51 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and a 20/55 BB/K ratio
Parsons is long and wiry, listed at 6’5 and 190 pounds. He may be 10-15 pounds more than that, but not much more, with very long arms and legs in his 6’5 frame.
Parsons works from the first base side of the rubber. He uses a high knee lift, bringing his knee up to his chest as part of his motion. He then kicks toward the plate with long legs and long arms, letting him get much closer to the plate in his delivery and allowing his stuff to play up.
Parsons releases the ball from a low 3/4 delivery point, and this gives his slider a very solid break plane. His extension to the plate from this arm slot is fairly rare, and it does seem to throw off hitters for at least the first time through the order if not twice.
Parsons has very lanky frame, and that’s both a blessing in the extension he gets toward home plate and a curse in the fact that his long legs can seemingly get in their own way, throwing off his balance in his stride toward the plate, and he ends up short-stepping, which doesn’t allow his hips to open up, and he ends up putting all of the pitch onto his arm.
Pitches
Parsons works with a low-90s fastball generally, sitting in the 89-93 range, touching 95. He was touching 96 and sitting more consistent around the 93 range out of the bullpen this season. He shows very good control of the fastball, and he commands the pitch better than any other pitch he throws. He can spot the pitch up and down in the zone. He tends to get more of a flat movement from the pitch up in the zone, but when he works in the lower part of the zone, he gets some arm side tail.
His slider is a very effective pitch, sitting in the 82-84 range in the games I viewed on Parsons, but I’ve seen reports with a few MPH either side of that range. His slider velocity did stay more consistent regardless of whether he was in the bullpen or in the rotation. The slider has a sharp break that seems to come late in the trajectory of the pitch, allowing it to really be an excellent pitch to generate swing and miss or weak contact as the ball dips under the bat head.
His change will be the key to his future role. In 2014, his change was a pitch that was getting nearly no movement and was picked up easily out of his hand. Whether he changed grips or anything with the pitch itself I do not honestly know, but I can see that the pitch itself is working much better out of his hand this year. He rarely used the pitch out of the bullpen. His change does have a touch of sink to it low in the zone, but like his fastball, it flattens up in the zone.
Video
Next: Future outlook
Future Outlook
Parsons has always reminded me of former Brave Ervin Santana. They both have longer arms and legs than their height would typically allow, and in spite of slender builds can hold up for solid innings until big injuries take them out. “Big Erv” has a fastball with a bit more sink to it, but he struggles to locate it above the waist like Parsons can, but both have late-breaking sliders and use similar velocities in their three-pitch mix.
Like Parsons, Santana took an unusual path to starting his career as he was a “late sign” out of the Dominican Republic, signing when he was already 18 years old. He did move quickly in their system, though he was in the majors for the first time at 22 years old. Parsons is already 24 after his injury-riddled year and a half with 2015-2016. Ervin was quite inconsistent with the Angels until he was sent to the Royals, and he’s been a consistent inning eater ever since.
Parsons has certainly shown enough to stick in the rotation, but with all the talent coming up behind him quickly, he’ll be in a pretty loaded AA rotation in 2017 to start the season, meaning he’ll have to keep throwing well to keep moving forward as a starter in the organization.
