With the Mets idle on this first day of the second half of the season, I decided to do some number crunching and digging around on Baseball Reference, my number one resource for dope on the Mets. I came across some interesting stats on Bobby Parnell.
With the young fire-baller ready to assume his biggest role as a Met in his short career, I wondered how well he has performed in save type situations during his time in the Major Leagues.
Surprisingly, Parnell has actually pitched in 38 save situations totaling 32 innings pitched. The numbers are ugly as he has posted a 5.91 ERA compared to a 2.23 ERA in non-save situations.
Batters are hitting .331 with an .818 OPS against Parnell in save situations, while in all his other relief appearances he has held the opposition to a .239 batting average and a .606 OPS.
Perhaps the most discouraging, is Parnell’s 1.906 WHIP in save situations compared to 1.228 in non-saves. The only bright spot I could find is that Parnell still maintains an excellent strikeouts per nine-inning rate of 10.7.
In his career, Parnell has always been far more hittable with runners on base or in scoring position. He’s faced 303 batters with men on base and they have hit .302 against him., With runners in scoring position, it’s even worse as Parnell has faced 188 batters who also hit .302 against him, but with an obscene .810 OPS as well.
Suffice it to say, there will be plenty of growing pains for Bobby Parnell as the Mets’ closer… and blown saves too. Be patient.
