By STEVE KRAH
Jarrod Parker pitched in the majors.
The right-hander suffered his share of injuries including fractured elbow.
After retirement as a player in 2015, Parker has held several positions around baseball.
The graduate of Norwell High School in Ossian, Ind., started Parker Sports Performance in Nashville, Tenn., a business for training, learning and recovery.
Parker, Dr. Travis Frantz and athletic trainer Dru Scott shared some of their knowledge during a clinic at the Summit City Sluggers facility in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 2018.
After selling PSP, Northeast Indiana Baseball Association Hall of Famer Parker went looking for a job on the pro side.
He landed with the Philadelphia Phillies, signing on with the organization in early December 2023. He was assigned as a pitching coach at the player development center in Clearwater, Fla., the team’s spring training home.
“Development is a pinnacle of what they’re doing,” says Parker. “We have a lot of talent and great guys on the (coaching) staff.
“It was a no-brainer to take on this role.”
Parker, 35, is currently working with the MiLB-sanctioned Florida Complex League Phillies’ 12-man pitching staff and also helps on the rehabilitation side.
The FCL Phillies are in-season. There are morning workouts and video review sessions followed by games.
That team plays until the end of July then players taken in the 2024 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft will arrive for orientation and training.
“It never ends,” says Parker. “It just keeps revolving.”
Evansville, Ind., native and former big league pitcher Aaron Barrett is the Phillies rehab/complex pitching coordinator.
Preston Mattingly, who also hails from Evansville, is assistant general manager of player development for the Phillies.
Anderson, Ind., native Adam Lind is hitting coach for the organization’s High-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws.
Justin Parker, Jarrod’s older brother, is the pitching coach at Mississippi State University after serving in that same role at Indiana University and the University of South Carolina. He was a pitcher at Wright State University and in the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers systems.
“We definitely communicate,” says Jarrod. “There’s a lot of stuff and ideas I bounce off him. I try not to bother him too much during the season. I know the workload he’s got going on and the intensity of it.
“A lot of people don’t have the resource. I’m pretty fortunate.”
With a dozen young Latin American pitchers on the FCL Phillies, it’s motivated Parker to expand his Spanish to improve the communication.
“I want to share the keys to early keys to early foundational success on the mound,” says Parker. “It’s a lot of Baseball Spanish and getting guys to process and reciprocate.
“To be the knowledge and the trust factor with the player, it obviously helps to speak the native language. I encourage them to speak as much English as they’re comfortable with. It’s a good give-and-take.”
Associate Luis Avilan, a Venezuelan with big league mound experience, is in camp regularly and helps with the process.
Parker began his pro career with the 2008 South Bend (Ind.) Silver Hawks. He made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks in 2011.
Since November 2011, South Bend has been affiliated with the Chicago Cubs. Helping teach English to the non-native speakers and bridging cultural gaps has been a job handled by consultant Linda Wawrzyniak. The Cubs showed their appreciation by giving her a World Series ring after Chicago won it all in 2016.
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