With 21 professional starts now under his belt, it is time that Wes Parsons begins a serious climb towards the top of the Braves' prospect board. Another scoreless outing Friday has him owning 1.74 ERA after two starts in 2014 for Lynchburg, this after becoming a bright spot on a lowly Rome team a year ago (7-7, 2.63). He worked over 100 innings and held hitters to a .224 average.
The mystery isn't so much how the Braves were able to latch onto the big Tennessean (6-5, 190) out of Jackson State CC, but how he went undrafted in the first place. His freshman season at the juco could be considered ordinary (7-3, 4.56 ERA, only 50 strikeouts in 70 innings).
Here are some relevant quotes from a MiLB story from August:
Parsons did not attract attention of scouts out of high school, and he went mostly unnoticed in college, where he admitted he spent more time worrying about baseball than his academics. It wasn't until he played in a wood-bat collegiate summer ball league in Canada that people started to take a second look.
"I played in the Northwoods [League] for the Thunder Bay Border Cats in Ontario and that was where they saw me. I was just trying to get my name out there," he said. "I was just trying to get some exposure, because I really wanted to play ball to see where it would take me.
"It was a tough decision at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I needed to go. Our first game in Waterloo, Iowa, a Tampa Bay scout came to talk to me, and that was when I realized I had something good going. He asked what it would take not to go back to school."
Parsons, who describes himself as "not the best student" and "just a kid," still wanted to talk with his parents about the meeting with the scout. Then, after appearing in the league's All-Star Game, he received similar inquiries from the Braves, Phillies, D-backs and Royals.
"I grew up a Braves fan, so that had a lot to do with my decision." said Parsons, who idolized Greg Maddox, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine as a youngster. "I would not have minded playing for or signing with somebody else, but when it came to either money or my childhood dream, that played the biggest role."
A total of 11 players have been drafted out of Jackson State Community College, most notably first-rounder and All Star Ross Grimsley in 1969 who appeared in 345 Major League games between Cincinnati, Montreal, Baltimore and Cleveland. Others, such as George Sherrill, spent time with the Generals before later going to the Majors. Parsons hopes to one day join this list.
"It's not a very big junior college, but it was just the best option for me at the time," Parsons said. "I'm not sure a lot of area scouts went there, or maybe they did and I had no idea. But being an undrafted free agent or being drafted, we're pretty much all the same."
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The eyes of Braves execs (and fans) will be on the M-Braves tonight to see if JR Graham can build on his promising 2014 debut, giving up nothing in five innings. Graham is almost a novelty, having gone through rehab of an arm injury rather than surgery.
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FREE ERNESTO MEJIA
CLASS AAA
Durham 4, Gwinnett 3
LP: Atkins (0-2) 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K.
Obispo 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K. (Why isn't he starting?)
Mejia 2-4, HR (6th), 2 RBIs.
Constanza 2-3, RBI.
Salcedo 1-4, 2B, R, SB.
JoeyT 1-4, 3B, R.
CLASS AA
Mississippi 5, Jackson 2
SP: Graham 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.(69 pitches)
***M-Braves announcer Kyle Tait tweeted that it was only pitch count that ended Graham's night***
WP: Cornely (1-0) 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.
Simmons (Save, 3) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 K.
Loman 2-4, HR (3rd), 2 RBI.
Landoni 4-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI.
Hefflinger 1-4, 2B.
Kleinknecht 2-5, 2 2B.
Leonard 1-4, RBI.
ADVANCED CLASS A
Lynchburg 8, Frederick 1
SP: Miller 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.
WP: Wilson (1-0) 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K.
Chaffee 2 IP, 0 H, 4 K.
Tewell 1-4, 2B, R, RBI.
Peraza 3-5, SB (4th) (.324).
Sanchez 2-4, 2B, R, BB.
Skinner 1-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI.
Elander 1-5, R, RBI.
CLASS A
Savannah 4, Rome 3
SP: Dettman 4 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
Reed Harper 2-4.
Reynolds 1-5, 2B, R, RBI.
Livesay 2-4, RBI.
Morel 2-3, 2B, R.
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