Oakland Athletics: 5 Bold Predictions for Jarrod Parker's Career

Jarrod Parker has lived up to the hype so far for the Oakland Athletics. The rookie has allowed only six earned runs in 25.2 innings pitched this season with an ERA of 2.10. With a long way to go in 2012 and a future that appears endless, what can the 23-year-old accomplish in the next few years? Here are five things Parker could accomplish sooner than later.

5. Parker Becomes the A's Ace

It wouldn't seem like the Oakland Athletics could improve much on its starting pitching staff at this point of the 2012 MLB season.

Free-agent add-on Bartolo Colon is performing better than most thought he would, and Brandon McCarthy has a 2.56 ERA through the midway part of May. It's reassuring to a team most predicted wouldn't compete for the AL West this year.

Rookie starter Jarrod Parker is quietly making a name for himself in the Oakland rotation. What's to say he isn't the A's ace in a few years if he continues pitching the way he has? He kept Oakland within reaching distance of Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers on Sunday and took down the Boston Red Sox in his second start of the year in early May.

Those are noteworthy accomplishments, but what can Parker accomplish in the next few years as his career blossoms?

4. Parker Earns AL Rookie of the Year Honors

Last season, 24-year-old Jeremy Hellickson won the AL Rookie of the Year for the Tampa Bay Rays with an ERA of 2.95 in 29 starts. Parker may get around 20-25 starts, but if his addition means an extra boost to the A's playoff chances, he could be an easy pick for the award. 

3. Parker Records a Sub 3.20 Career ERA

Tim Lincecum is currently the only active starting pitcher with a career ERA below 3.00 (2.98 according to Baseball Almanac). Lincecum is only 27 and has a pair of Cy Youngs already. Parker has four years to show if he can reach Lincecum's stellar numbers.

If he stays in the Coliseum, a well-known pitcher's ballpark, Parker may be able to get close to them. The safe bet would be that Parker can win some hardware since MLB has shied away from recognizing wins and losses as an accomplishment in recent years.

2. Parker Wins a Cy Young Within 5 Years

Though last year's Cy Young award recipients were a pair of 20-game winners, Felix Hernandez won the award with just 13 wins in 2010. Parker's age also shouldn't be a factor, as Clayton Kershaw started his MLB career at 20 and he won the 2011 Cy Young at 23. 

Parker will need a few years to adjust to big league pitching, but when he does, it may not take long to dominate opposing batters. Whether he'll be in Oakland when he does it is another thing.

1. Parker Stays with the Oakland A's

Tim Hudson, Ben Sheets, Trevor Cahill, Dan Haren, Barry Zito and even Joe Blanton were all Opening Day starters for Oakland at one time within the past decade. They're all gone, traded or taken off to a money wonderland that Oakland doesn't seem to want to approach themselves.

If Parker does live up to some of the predictions listed, he should be kept in an A's jersey. Keeping him would stop a continuous cycle of bleeding talent from one of the gray concrete slabs of the O.co Coliseum, and he'd be entertaining to watch. 

That being said, Parker may not want to leave Oakland. He might like it here. Unfortunately, if that's the case, the decision to stay in green and gold, as was the case with all the aforementioned pitchers, won't be his. It'll be a shame too, because both the the team and fans will once again lose.