Unique Arm Angle Allowing Unheralded Washington Nationals Pitcher To Thrive
In this story:
Coming into the season, much of the conversation about the Washington Nationals was centered on their lineup with so many rising stars on the roster.
It was easy to understand why.
CJ Abrams made his first All-Star Game in 2024, Luis Garcia Jr. started to look like an above-average Major League player, James Wood was sensational during his rookie year after being called up and top prospect Dylan Crews made his debut last season, too.
Meanwhile, the majority of the future impact arms are still in the lower levels of the minors, while the others who could have joined MacKenzie Gore at the top of the rotation are working their way back from injury.
That caused Mitchell Parker to largely be overlooked coming into the year.
In a camp battle during the spring to determine if he would even make the Opening Day roster after he posted a 4.29 ERA across 29 starts last season, the left-hander wasn't on many people's radars when it came to potential breakout players for this Nationals team.
However, Parker has been one of the best stories for Washington in the early part of the campaign.
He has a 2.65 ERA through his six starts, sitting with a blistering ERA+ of 153 that's 53 percentage points above the league average.
While his FIP of 3.80 and expected ERA of 3.69 suggests that some regression could be coming, those figures aren't a stark difference from what he has produced thus far.
What's the secret for his success?
It's his unique 60-degree arm angle that is the second-highest release point in Major League Baseball for left-handers, giving opposing hitters a different look compared to how others throw the ball.
"The more Parker can get above the baseball as he releases it, the better he feels he can command his pitches. The more over the top he throws, the more he can create perfect backspin ... that helps the ball fight off gravity as it spins toward the plate. For the hitter, it appears the fastball is rising. Across the board with his pitches, the higher he releases the ball, the better his command and the more hitters chase," wrote Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post.
His four-seam fastball is his greatest weapon.
Parker throws it around 50% of the time, with his splitter, curveball and slider playing off of it.
He doesn't have overwhelming stuff, and that has resulted in a poor strikeout rate, but he has induced ground balls 44% of the time this season which is above the MLB average of 41.9%.
What he's been elite at is limiting barrels, giving up just a 3.4% barrel rate that is well below the league average number of 7%.
Based on what Nusbaum said, a lot of that can be attributed to Parker's arm angle.
Parker was listed as a top 30 prospect in the Nationals' pipeline before he made his debut, but he was never considered to be one of the best young pitchers in their farm system compared to others in the organization.
How he's performed so far this year could change the conversation about his place in the rotation going forward, even when some of those star prospects start making their way to the Majors.
