Chris Parmelee-at the magic 666 career at-bat point.

[alyosha]

Is it possible that he has finally turned the corner at 26 yrs-old, or is his current hot streak just a matter of tricky luck? TK always said that Parm can't catch up to a healthy fastball, but maybe things have changed...I haven't watched enough at-bats or done the research to see if he is connecting with the heat.

[stringer bell]

I haven't gotten the chance to watch most of CP's at-bats, but from what I've seen, he's riding a hot streak and he's had hot streaks before. Parmelee seems to be using more of the field and not hitting so many 300-350 foot fly balls, which he did when in his huge slump. He's not walking much and still striking out 25% of the time.

 

Parmelee has hit left handers well. Strangely, with Arcia and Mauer showing big platoon splits, it might make sense for him to get starts against lefties going forward even if everybody is healthy. I like Parmelee's defense for a slow runner (not in center) and I hope he can contribute to the Twins beyond this year. He'll get a good chance until Mauer is activated, which I am willing to bet will be more than 15 days.

 

Much like Arcia, it seems that Parm does have a soft spot in his swing (high fastballs). At this point he seem more willing and able to lay off.

[Marta Shearing]

Looking like the Twins lucked out when nobody claimed him.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Is it possible that he has finally turned the corner at 26 yrs-old, or is his current hot streak just a matter of tricky luck? TK always said that Parm can't catch up to a healthy fastball, but maybe things have changed...I haven't watched enough at-bats or done the research to see if he is connecting with the heat.

 

I'm not quite sure where the 'can't hit a fastball' thing came from. He struggles with high heat. He's shown that he can hit quite well in stretches. That's quite different than not being able to hit a fastball.

[TheLeviathan]

I'm not quite sure where the 'can't hit a fastball' thing came from. He struggles with high heat. He's shown that he can hit quite well in stretches. That's quite different than not being able to hit a fastball.

 

Tom Kelly made mention of it publicly. According to Fangraphs, Parmelee handles fastballs at a 56.9% clip compared to, say, Dozier at 56.3.

 

So it's not the pitch type, more the location as Parker did an excellent job pointing out.