{"id":18197,"date":"2019-03-28T11:15:55","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T15:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/\/?p=18197"},"modified":"2019-03-28T10:47:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T14:47:16","slug":"get-to-know-braves-rookie-reliever-wes-parsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2019\/03\/28\/get-to-know-braves-rookie-reliever-wes-parsons\/","title":{"rendered":"Get To Know Braves&#8217; Rookie Reliever Wes Parsons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The wealth of highly touted pitching prospects in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/atlanta-braves\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta Braves<\/a>\u00a0system is well documented. Surprisingly, a relatively unknown <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/parsowe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wes Parsons<\/a> has been the talk of Spring Training. Braves manager, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/snitkbr99.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brian Snitker<\/a> confirmed Monday that Parsons had earned a spot on the opening roster working out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What a spring.<\/p>\n<p>Wes Parsons (a.k.a. Grapefruit Cy Young) made the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Braves?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Braves<\/a>&#39; Opening Day roster. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WRL1800mgy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/WRL1800mgy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Braves On FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSNBraves) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FanDuelSNBraves\/status\/1110639287358443521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 26, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h1>Spring Training Success<\/h1>\n<p>Dubbed the Grapefruit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngcy01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cy Young<\/a>, the right-hander is riding a wave of momentum into the regular season. Parsons made nine appearances this spring and did not yield a single run.<\/p>\n<p>In 13.1 innings pitched he only walked one batter while striking out fifteen. He earned the coaching staff\u2019s trust by consistently throwing strikes and getting batters out. \u00a0The 26-year-old only allowed five hits this spring.<\/p>\n<h2>Background<\/h2>\n<p>The Tennessee native attended Jackson State Community College where he pitched well as a freshman. The summer after his freshman campaign he pitched in the wood bat, Northwoods League, earning a spot on the All-Star team. His successes were not enough to get him drafted though. Instead, he was signed by the Braves as an undrafted free agent in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Parsons worked his way through the minors compiling a mediocre 24-25 win\/loss record since joining the Rome Braves in 2013. He has, largely, been under the radar as a prospect given the depth of the Braves&#8217; young pitching but he has progressed each season.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Parsons earned a call up to the majors in August. He made his debut(and lone appearance) in relief of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sanchan01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anibal Sanchez<\/a> on August 9th. Parsons took the loss, pitching five innings and allowing four earned runs in the 6-3 defeat to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/washington-nationals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nationals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He put in some extra work in the winter, pitching in the Dominican League. Parsons came to camp a different pitcher and the Braves took notice. Snitker told the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/sports\/baseball\/leadoff-three-players-who-surprised-snitker-this-spring\/5Ty9IADuGLmnFBmwEyhHYN\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AJC<\/a> earlier this week,\u00a0\u201cWes Parsons is not the same guy. He\u2019s another guy who has a different air about him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Valuable Contributor<\/h3>\n<p>It wouldn&#8217;t\u00a0be the first time the Braves were helped by some relative unknowns.\u00a0 Both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tuckepr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Preston Tucker<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/flahery01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Flaherty<\/a> played key roles early last season as the team marched to the NL East crown. Parsons could be the next unknown to play a big role out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s no secret that the injury bug has bitten the Braves&#8217; pitching staff this spring, opening the door for players expected to start the season in the minor leagues. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/minteaj01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A.J. Minter<\/a> is expected to miss the first several weeks of the season as he works his way back from left shoulder tightness.<\/p>\n<p>The team has not shared a timetable for setup man, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/odayda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darren O&#8217;Day<\/a>. It is expected that he will begin the season on the injured list. He has begun a throwing program to get back to the mound after experiencing forearm tightness this spring.\u00a0Many thought that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/winklda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dan Winkler<\/a> was a lock for the bullpen, but surprisingly he will start the season at AAA Gwinett.<\/p>\n<p>One common theory\u00a0this spring was that the Braves would use one or more of their young prospects to fill out the bullpen. The front office felt differently. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wrighky01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Wright<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wilsobr02.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryse Wilson<\/a> are slated for the big league starting rotation to start the season though.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/toussto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Touki Toussaint<\/a> was sent to Gwinett where he will get regular starts until he is needed in Atlanta again. All these circumstances opened the door, and Parsons stormed through it to claim his spot in the bullpen.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"H6k7E-mqRk1qO3q4PEUPRQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1018583314\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'H6k7E-mqRk1qO3q4PEUPRQ',sig:'IC3-K6qLtzFPfb8R53zeMHuCQdE5SnaACDl3FT7N-DI=',w:'594px',h:'395px',items:'1018583314',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Braves&#8217; rookie pitcher Wes Parsons capitalized on a strong spring training performance to earn an opening day spot in the bullpen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2939,"featured_media":18283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2,1071],"tags":[48,2185,1950,2152,1357,156,69,1983,1936,302,2456],"class_list":["post-18197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-featured","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-bryse-wilson","tag-dan-winkler","tag-darren-oday","tag-kyle-wright","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb","tag-preston-tucker","tag-ryan-flaherty","tag-touki-toussaint","tag-wes-parsons"],"modified_by":"John Flanigan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2939"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}