Fantasy Baseball: Oakland Athletics Jarrod Parker, a Solid Waiver Wire Pickup

Last winter, the Oakland Athletics had themselves a huge fire sale as they unloaded seasoned top-level talent for a slew of minor league prospects—future talent. One of those prospects was right-hander Jarrod Parker, who came to Oakland in the trade that sent All-Star pitcher Trevor Cahill to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Obviously, there was some pressure to fill those shoes vacated by Cahill, especially for a player like Parker.

The 23-year-old righty had a somewhat unspectacular minor-league career, compiling a 28-19 record and 3.69 ERA at three different levels in the D-Backs minor league system. Additionally, Parker missed the entire 2010 year while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He returned to the mound in 2011 and posted a humdrum 11-8 record with a 3.79 ERA.

What did the A’s see in this guy exactly? Other than a smaller paycheck, that is.

Parker wasn’t exactly terrible in his first spring training with the Athletics. He tallied a modest 3.27 ERA in 11 innings of work. However, despite the small sample size, it was the 13 bases on balls that directed Parker to Triple-A Sacramento to iron out his command. Further, the superfluity of starting pitchers for Oakland gave Parker a bit more time to earn his next promotion to the big leagues.

Of course, an opening in the starting rotation would have to present itself in order for him to do so. Cue Oakland’s demotion of Graham Godfrey last week following a 0-3 record in three starts, with a 5.06 ERA.

Enter Parker, who sported a 1-0 record in four starts with Sacramento, accompanied by a 2.18 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 20.2 innings. More importantly—most importantly—he issued only six walks. This allowed Parker to finally make his season and A’s debut on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox.

The midday contest showcased everything that the Athletics had envisioned from their rookie right-hander. Parker pitched 6.2 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits, striking out five and walking only one, earning a no-decision, as the A’s finished off the White Sox in extra innings, 5-4.

While the Athletics were obviously impressed with the performance of Parker, fantasy owners must take note as well, as he is likely lounging around on many leagues’ waiver wires awaiting pickup. He has the potential to be a No. 4 or 5 starter in mixed leagues, as long as he’s able to keep his walks down to a respectable number. He won’t pile up a ton of innings right out of the gate, but he has the ability to accumulate a solid strikeout rate (8.48 per nine innings throughout minor-league career.) Plus, he keeps the ball down with his control of his fastball, allowing only 19 home runs in over 360 innings pitched.

If Parker is indeed available and you’re able to pick him up, he’d be a good fit on the back end of your rotation—particularly American League-only fantasy leagues. The A’s have a lot of young talent in their starting pitching staff. And Parker is the latest in a line of possible sleeper picks.

Snatch him up off the waiver wire while you still can. 

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