Rockies Year in Review: Kyle Parker

Here at Rox Pile, we are starting a player review for each and every player that suited up in a Colorado Rockies uniform this season. This series will be going all the way up until Dec. 15 with player profiles posted every day.

Today, we are featuring Rockies outfielder/first baseman Kyle Parker.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

Kyle Parker looked outmatched in his first extended time free from the minor leagues. He just looked bad. There’s no other way to put it. Parker is typically a slow starter; each of his past two years in the minors he struggled to gain his rhythm at the plate but eventually came around. I hoped that he was just adjusting to the major league level and his play would even out. I was wrong.

Parker, the Rockies First Round draft pick in 2010, has only completed three full years of just focusing on baseball in his life. He was the starting quarterback at Clemson and is the only athlete in NCAA history to his 20 home runs and throw for 20 touchdown passes in a single year. He’s an athlete – he was a pretty good basketball player in high school as well – with the tools to be successful in any sport, but is struggling to put it together in the majors. Parker struck out in 33 percent of his at-bats and it shocked me that it was that low. Watching Parker hit was cringe-worthy.

Kyle Parker 2015 – .179 AVG, .535 OPS, 3 HR 11 RBI, 37 K, 106 AB

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Parker’s defense was adequate in the outfield, but the Rockies drafted him for his bat. If he can’t put together a decent season in 2016, the Rockies will have a tough choice to make. I see Parker getting two more chances in 2016 and 2017. If he’s unable to produce anything resembling a decent season, the Rockies will move on. Parker is 26, which is still relatively young, but is running out of time to prove himself.

The #FreeKyleParker movement came to a screeching halt in Denver. Let’s hope it can gain some momentum in 2016.

Overall Grade: F

Next: Rockies Trade Brothers to Cubs

The Rockies announced Wednesday afternoon that the team has traded southpaw reliever Rex Brothers to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for pitching prospect Wander Cabrera.