There was one missing piece in the Drew Parrish arsenal. Did he find it?
- Born: December 8, 1997
- B/T: Left/Left
- 5’11”, 200-lbs
- Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Florida State University
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
Parrish did great in Rookie ball in 2019, full stop.
In 2021, split between High-A and Double-A, his strikeout rate dipped just below Excellent range, his walk rate edged up just out of Excellent range, and thus his K%-BB% and xFIP were just Good. Love that WHIP though.
Let’s break out his High-A and Double-A numbers:
Ah, so he did unalloyed great against High-A as well, before having a bit of trouble in Double-A. Still, this is a good results in Double-A, not that he was struggling or anything. I’m just being picky about not seeing another full row of green.
So let’s break down his Double-A season in more detail:
Ah, he had an adjustment to make in June when he first reached Double-A. For the rest of the summer, his strikeouts went up a full 5% while his walk rate remained steady. His xFIP climbed even as his WHIP improved back to Excellent range, cuz that’s what runs do in baseball: you can be pitching well, but some runs get through, even if the WHIP remains great.
He pitches better against RHB, but he pitches well against LHB too. Just not as dominating as against righties.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #310 on their Top 400
- Fantrax: Not on their Top 400
- Fantasy Six Pack: Not on their dynasty Top 1,000+
- Imaginary Brick Wall: Not on their Top 473
Warnings
When he was drafted, he was up to only 90 or 91 mph on his fastball. As a lefty, you don’t need extreme velocity, but that’s a bit light. However, recent reports had him up to 95, and that’ll play just fine.
He had to adjust to Double-A. Will that mean an adjustment at Triple-A, and then MLB?
Conclusion
Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs said this about Parrish in May 2021:
Parrish is a lefty with a pretty good changeup, and those guys tend to wind up having big league careers, even if it’s just as upper-level depth. His velo was on the rise just before the 2019 draft, averaging just over 90 mph for the first time in his career, but in the postseason he was back to 87-91 when he had to rely more on his secondary stuff. That’s probably the approach he’ll need to take going forward, as both his changeup and curveball are better offerings than the heater. He projects as a fifth/sixth starter barring an unforeseen bump in velocity.
Eric Longenhagen
Ah, but his velocity later did bump up! And since he already had a pretty good changeup, and his curve was already better than his FB, if his FB can sustain in the mid-90s, we are definitely looking at a #5 SP prospect here.
He will likely never be an ace, but steady end-of-rotation arms are valuable in both real life and fantasy.