So yeah...Kyle Parker

I've been too busy with work to write much lately. But I've been following baseball and yeah, Kyle Parker currently sports a slash line of .391/.519/.751. 169 at bats is still a small sample size for projecting future performance in baseball, but that's still a mighty impressive line for a third-year player in the ACC. His batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is .412 which seems a bit high and could imply that some regression is coming. For reference sake, average BABIP in the big leagues is around .290. On the other hand, the average ACC BABIP is undoubtedly higher and this stat can mislead at the college level if players consistently square up on pitchers from weak out-of-conference competition.

It's not just the numbers, most of the scouting sites I've read are now pretty much sold on his power and approach at the plate. No one is willing to go out on a limb and say he'll hit for good average in the pros, but now everyone seems to acknowledge it as a distinct possibility. He is still rated as raw on the defensive skills side. The stupid errors are down this season, but that's something that's not really that important and can be improved through repetition. What scouts are looking for is range, jump as the ball comes off the bat, and route-running (in roughly that order). Arm strength then comes in as a pretty distant fourth, although Parker has plenty of arm. To me he still seems to get poor jumps and take pretty lousy routes, but his range might have improved a bit from years past. The routes can be fixed with experience, but jump is more instinctive. Good range will make up for below-average jump, though.

I have always felt that Parker's defense would keep him from getting drafted high enough to tempt him away from another season of football. My reasoning: there isn't a lot of demand right now for all bat, no glove players--even at a corner outfield position. If your ceiling includes the DH position, that automatically cuts the number of interested teams in half and recently even the DH slot has been used by American League teams for purposes other than stashing away a slugger. Ultimately, however, I think Parker's overall athleticism (bolstered in part by a strong showing on the football field last season?) is causing concerns about his defense to fade, at least somewhat. Coupled with an improved plate approach, his stock has really been rising. There was always the danger that a team with a lot of money to burn on the draft (Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Tigers, etc.) would select him trying to snag higher-level talent later in the draft. At this point, he seems likely to get a good offer from whatever team drafts him.

I'm curious what others think about his defensive play this season. My eye doesn't have the best training in the world, but if we can get a few opinions we'll have a better idea--a wisdom of crowds kind of thing. At any rate, it's going to be a tenser summer for Clemson football fans than I previously anticipated.