Less than two months into his professional career, 2024 sixth-round pick Aaron Parker is already sending a clear message to the Toronto Blue Jays organization: he can clobber a baseball. 
The 21-year-old catcher is off to an incredible start with single-A Dunedin thus far, mashing to a .283/.406/.604 clip while posting nine extra-base hits in 15 games, including four home runs &#8212; three of which have occurred over his last six contests.
Parker, who went deep in a pair of games last week, left the yard again a night ago amidst a 2-for-4 performance that also featured a hard-hit double as part of the Blue Jays&#8217; 12-4 victory over the Clearwater Threshers &#8212; the Philadelphia Phillies&#8217; single-A affiliate.
The right-handed-hitting backstop&#8217;s home run travelled 396 feet over the outfield wall in left-centre, coming off his bat at 98.5 m.p.h. Later in the game, his fifth-inning double produced an even higher exit velocity of 108.7 &#8212; the third-highest of his young career.
<figure id="attachment_77867" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-77867" style="width: 480px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-77867" src="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/08/sideways.png" alt="" width="480" height="218" srcset="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/08/sideways.png 480w, https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/08/sideways-300x136.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-77867" class="wp-caption-text">Source: <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?date=2024-08-22&amp;chartType=pitch&amp;legendType=pitchName&amp;playerType=pitcher&amp;inning=&amp;count=&amp;pitchHand=&amp;batSide=&amp;descFilter=&amp;ptFilter=&amp;resultFilter=&amp;hf=exitVelocity&amp;sportId=14&amp;liveAb=#760499" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baseball Savant</a></figcaption></figure>
Parker&#8217;s quality of contact metrics have been eye-popping since arriving in last month&#8217;s draft, as he owns a 94.8 m.p.h. average exit velocity, a 53.3-per-cent hard-hit rate and a 13.3-per-cent barrel rate, albeit in this limited sample size.
In three seasons at UC Santa Barbara, Park hit 22 home runs with 84 RBIs while slugging .592 with the Gauchos, posting a .632 SLG in his final year. So, the fact his power stroke has carried over into pro ball shouldn&#8217;t be all that surprising.
Though he struck out twice in Thursday&#8217;s contest, Parker has controlled the strike zone extremely well early on with Dunedin, earning 11 walks to 12 strikeouts thus far. He&#8217;s also recorded a modest 25.9-per-cent whiff rate.
Defence remains the biggest question mark for the 5-foot-9, 200-pound catcher, who&#8217;s started half of his games at DH. But he brings plenty of power potential to a Blue Jays farm system that&#8217;s thin on catching depth.

Less than two months into his professional career, 2024 sixth-round pick Aaron Parker is already sending a clear message to the Toronto Blue Jays organization: he can clobber a baseball. 

The 21-year-old catcher is off to an incredible start with single-A Dunedin thus far, mashing to a .283/.406/.604 clip while posting nine extra-base hits in 15 games, including four home runs -- three of which have occurred over his last six contests.

Parker, who went deep in a pair of games last week, left the yard again a night ago amidst a 2-for-4 performance that also featured a hard-hit double as part of the Blue Jays' 12-4 victory over the Clearwater Threshers -- the Philadelphia Phillies' single-A affiliate.

The right-handed-hitting backstop's home run travelled 396 feet over the outfield wall in left-centre, coming off his bat at 98.5 m.p.h. Later in the game, his fifth-inning double produced an even higher exit velocity of 108.7 -- the third-highest of his young career.

[caption id="attachment_77867" align="aligncenter" width="480"]<img class="size-full wp-image-77867" src="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/08/sideways.png" alt="" width="480" height="218" /> Source: <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?date=2024-08-22&amp;chartType=pitch&amp;legendType=pitchName&amp;playerType=pitcher&amp;inning=&amp;count=&amp;pitchHand=&amp;batSide=&amp;descFilter=&amp;ptFilter=&amp;resultFilter=&amp;hf=exitVelocity&amp;sportId=14&amp;liveAb=#760499" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baseball Savant</a>[/caption]

Parker's quality of contact metrics have been eye-popping since arriving in last month's draft, as he owns a 94.8 m.p.h. average exit velocity, a 53.3-per-cent hard-hit rate and a 13.3-per-cent barrel rate, albeit in this limited sample size.

In three seasons at UC Santa Barbara, Park hit 22 home runs with 84 RBIs while slugging .592 with the Gauchos, posting a .632 SLG in his final year. So, the fact his power stroke has carried over into pro ball shouldn't be all that surprising.

Though he struck out twice in Thursday's contest, Parker has controlled the strike zone extremely well early on with Dunedin, earning 11 walks to 12 strikeouts thus far. He's also recorded a modest 25.9-per-cent whiff rate.

Defence remains the biggest question mark for the 5-foot-9, 200-pound catcher, who's started half of his games at DH. But he brings plenty of power potential to a Blue Jays farm system that's thin on catching depth.

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