Bobby Parnell Blows the Save for St. Lucie in Game 1

Any more 98 MPH fastballs living in Parnell's beard?

            The Mets have endured a lot of injuries to their pitching staff already in 2015, so they could’ve really used some good news regarding Bobby Parnell’s 3^rd FSL outing Tuesday evening. Instead, Parnell struggled with control while sitting mostly 89-92 MPH on his fastball and blowing the save for St. Lucie. It’s still early in his rehab, so it’s not like we need to write his career off or anything crazy, but Parnell has yet to even flash the same heat he made his name on.

            Parnell started his outing off with a fastball at 88 MPH to Felix Munoz, which was called a strike at the knees. Munoz would reach when he hit a 92 MPH fastball back up the middle for a single.

Avery Romero would advance Munoz to 2B on the first pitch of his at bat with a well-executed sac bunt.

After falling behind Blake Barber with two off speed pitches, Parnell came back with two heaters at 90 and 91 MPH, but missed low with both for a 4-pitch walk.

The next batter was Cameron Flynn, and Parnell fell behind 2-0 on two fastballs – 92 MPH outside, 91 outside, but very close. He’d finally get a 91 MPH fastball over to make 2-1, which elicited some sarcastic applause from the crowd. The next pitch was at 92 MPH, and fouled off to even the count at 2-2. He went to the breaking ball on 2-2, and Flynn pulled a single just out of the reach of St. Lucie 1B Matthew Oberste. This tied the game up at 1, and the runners advanced to 2B and 3B.

He’d fall behind 3-1 on the next batter Chris Hoo, before walking him with an 89 MPH fastball that missed outside. This loaded the bases and caused pitching coach Phil Regan to take a trip to the mound. St. Lucie catcher Jeff Glenn had gone out to check on Parnell previously, and Adam Mac noted that Parnell was looking frustrated with some of the calls while walking around the mound. Also, at this point Akeel Morris sprinted out to the bullpen to start warming up as quickly as possible.

The final batter Parnell would face was Rehiner Cordova, and Parnz noticeably slowed down his pace on the mound during the at bat. After getting ahead 0-1, he’d miss with a 92 MPH fastball low to even the count. After a couple of more off speed pitches to move the count to 2-2, Parnell threw his fastest pitch of the night, hitting 93 MPH on a pitch that just missed inside – the crowd thought it missed, Adam Mac was OK with the umps call. His final pitch of the game went for a swinging strike 3, although there was no call on the pitch.

Overall, he threw 25 pitches in his 0.2 IP, with just 11 going for strikes, sitting 89-92 MPH with his fastball. Again, it’s early in his rehab, and not everyone recovers from Tommy John Surgery like Matt Harvey, so let’s not write off Parnell just yet. But early returns suggest he won’t be ready to help the team as some optimistic reports suggested. Even if he can’t find that extra velocity, there is still a chance Parnell is a useful pen option for the Mets, as he’s an experienced major leaguer with a low 90’s fastball, but that’s no guarantee. One final thing that Adam Mac suggested Mets fans keep in mind with Parnell is that he is an adrenaline guy, and pitching in front of 30,000 fans in a major league will get more adrenaline flowing than pitching in front of the few hundred people who made it to game 1 of this unexpected double header.

Current line for Bobby Parnell with St. Lucie in 2015 - 2.2 IP, 10.12 ERA, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 2 SO

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— Astronomy Now (@AstronomyNow) April 21, 2015