Atlanta Braves Fans Need to Become Familiar with Wes Parsons
One of the best stories this Spring has been the emergence of Atlanta Braves right-handed reliever Wes Parson.
The Atlanta Braves have been looking for some relievers to step up this Spring, and Wes Parsons certainly fits that category.
He has yet to give up a run in 13.1 innings pitched during Spring Training, while allowing just five hits and one walk with 15 strikeouts.
That strikeout-to-walk ration is sure to catch the attention of the Braves front office. They are desperately looking for relievers who can come in and throw strikes.
Parsons has thrown a single inning in each of the past three Spring Trainings, so he’s finally got a long look and taking advantage.
The 26-year-old was signed by the Atlanta Braves out of Jackson State Community College in 2013 as an undrafted free agent.
It’s amazing to think that you can go through a billion rounds of the MLB Draft, and yet guys like Parsons and Brandon Beachy go can go undrafted.
That just shows you have difficult it can be to judge the potential of a baseball player. Sometimes it takes players longer to develop than others.
That’s why you also see guys like Ryan Howard who are late bloomers.
We are so used to players these days getting drafted and then breaking out in their early 20s like Ronald Acuna, but that’s not always the case.
I’m not saying Parsons is going to be a superstar for the Atlanta Braves this season, but just because he’s 26 doesn’t mean he can’t be a great Major League player for a long time.
The Minor League Years
After Parsons was signed in 2013 he went straight to Low-A Rome where he posted a 2.63 ERA in 109.2 innings pitched with 101 strikeouts. He was obviously working as a starter then, making 19 starts that season.
Things didn’t go as well in 2014 at High-A where he had a 5.00 ERA in 23 starts and 113.1 innings with 96 strikeouts.
It turns out that he pitched most of that 2104 season injured, which led to him only make four starts in 2015.
In the 2016 season, he posted a 3.51 ERA in 66.2 innings pitched, making just nine starts with 55 strikeouts mostly at High-A.
Two seasons ago he continued to work as a starter making 11 starts between Double-A and Triple-A with a combined ERA of 3.15 in 103 innings pitched and 98 strikeouts. He also picked three saves in Double-A that year.
Last year he started out the season in Double-A and dominated with a 1.23 ERA in 29.1 innings pitched with 28 strikeouts.
He was then sent back up to Triple-A where he had a 3.27 ERA in 16 games (14 starts) over 88 innings with 76 strikeouts.
Over six minor league seasons, he’s been pretty consistent with a 3.38 ERA in 538 innings pitched with 480 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.20. He has a K/9 rate of 8.0 in those six seasons and a BB/9 rate of 2.5.
Wes Parsons Can Make a Difference
Parsons got a cup of coffee with Atlanta last year coming into a game on August 9 against the Washington Nationals after Anibal Sanchez left early.
He allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts over five innings.
That’s certainly not the type of outing you would expect from Parsons, but that’s not much to go off of at the big league level.
With all of the other talented arms in the system, it’s hard to see Parsons ever breaking into the rotation. If he did, he’d likely be a fourth or fifth starter, so I feel like he’s more valuable out of the bullpen.
Here is a scouting report we did on Parsons a few years ago. He features a fastball, slider, change-up mix.
The numbers indicate he doesn’t have big strikeout stuff, although he is striking out just under a batter an inning.
I think what we can expect from Parsons is a guy who will come in, throw strikes, and create weak contact.
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That’s what we’ve seen from him in Spring Training and throughout his minor league career.
The Braves could use him as a bridge in the middle innings as he’s a guy that can give you an inning-plus.
You can get similar results from Josh Tomlin, but I don’t think these two are in competition with each other.
Instead, I think the Atlanta Braves realize that they have a lot of young starters who won’t go deep into games, so it will be imperative that they have guys like Parsons and Tomlin who can go multiple innings.
There is still no guarantee that Parsons will break camp with the Braves, but at this point, it would be surprising if he didn’t.
Touki, Winkler, Duvall Option to AAA. dark. Next
I really like what Parsons has done throughout his career, and obviously, he’s been amazing this Spring. He could be a huge difference-maker in the Atlanta Braves bullpen in 2019.