In his last five starts Jarrod Parker has a 2.41 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 21 percent strikeout rate and an 8.1 percent walk rate. Prior to those five starts he had a 7.34 ERA, 1.98 WHIP, 14.7 percent strikeout rate and 10.6 walk rate. After watching all of his starts it was obvious to me he was locating his pitches better, which made his pitches more effective. The beauty of TruMedia Networks tool is it allows me to easily visualize and reinforce what I’ve been seeing. Parker is essentially a two-pitch pitcher, throwing the fastball and changeup 84.5 percent of the time.
The image below shows the pitch location of the fastball in Parker’s last five starts compared the first seven. After looking at the image it’s no surprise hitters were hitting .380 to begin the season and only .236 in his last five starts.
The image below shows the pitch location of the changeup. The same date ranges are the same as before. To begin the year he left the changeup up in the middle of the zone; the sweet spot for most hitters.
Basically, Jarrod Parker is back. If I could get via trade I would try to do so. I would even give up Patrick Corbin for him. That come as a surprise, but I do not believe Corbin is this good and he’s going to regress eventually.
