Bobby Parnell Makes His Final Rehab Appearance for St. Lucie

Captain Fastball, are you still in there somewhere?

UPDATE: Bobby Parnell may be sticking around St. Lucie a little longer than previously announced.

            Bobby Parnell made his fifth rehab appearance of 2015 Thursday night, allowing a run for the fourth consecutive outing. After taking a blown save in each of his last two appearances for St. Lucie, the Mets chose to let Bobby Parnell start and pitch one inning Thursday night, but he still ended up taking the loss. After retiring the first two batters of the 1^st inning, Parnell allowed back-to-back hits, including an RBI double to Mike Ford, which put him on the hook. Ford had also stroked a two-run double against Parnell in the 9^th inning Monday night. St. Lucie would fall behind 3-0 by the 3^rd, and end up losing 4-2 – boxscore.

Check out the details from his appearance below, with the information coming from tuning into the St. Lucie radio broadcast. Adam Mac does a great job covering the games, and if you ever want to tune in, it’s available online for free on MiLB.com. He identified 8 of 11 pitches during the appearance, and some of his relevant comments are left in quote below.

      1)   Abiatal Avelino hit a groundout to Amed Rosario (63/G)

a.     87 MPH Fastball

      2)   Tyler Wade struck out swinging (K/Sw)

a.     Called strike

b.     Foul

c.      Slider – Swinging strike 3 (“Just below the knees”)

      3)   Miguel Andujar lined a single into CF (S8/L)

a.     91 MPH Fastball – ball 1-0, inside

b.     91 MPH Fastball – foul 1-1

c.      Slider (“Slider that’s up”)

      4)   Mike Ford doubled into the right-center field gap (D9/F) (“Hard-hit liner”)

a.     91 MPH Fastball (“Over the heart of the plate”)

      5)   Mark Payton flied out to LF (7/F)

a.     92 MPH Fastball – ball 1-0, outside

b.     called strike 1-1

c.      Slider

The Mets announced before this outing that Parnell and Vic Black would move their rehab assignments to AAA this weekend, with both scheduled to pitch Sunday in Tacoma. I’m not sure how well Parnell is going to fare in the PCL if he can’t get FSL hitters out, but he just needs to get reps right now, and maybe the more competitive environment will give him some extra adrenaline out there. Even though it’s been longer since Black last pitched – his last appearance was 4/18 – it doesn’t appear that Parnell is close to being ready, so I think Black may be the first to return to the Mets bullpen MASH unit (that’s what 51s announcer Russ Langer calls it).

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