Blake Parker

[William Malone]

Richard Blake Parker was born on June 19, 1985 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Chicago Cubs drafted him as a catcher in round 16 of the 2006 MLB Draft out of the University of Arkansas. He struggled offensively that summer, going 0-for-21 in seven games at the Class-A level. Parker began pitching while at minor league spring training the next year, and then registered a 2.39 ERA in 26.1 innings between rookie ball and Low-A that season. He climbed the minor league ranks slowly, finally making his Major League debut for the Cubs in 2012.

Parker became a solid journeyman reliever, pitching with four clubs between 2012 and 2018; the Cubs, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels. He began to get some closer reps with the Angels, recording 22 saves between the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

The Minnesota Twins signed Parker to a one year deal in 2019. His contract came with a $3.2 million guaranteed base salary, and several incentives based around games spent on the active roster. He took the loss in his Twins debut, allowing a ninth inning run during a 2-1 loss against the Cleveland Indians on March 30th. Things quickly got better, and Parker didn't allow a run for the entire month of April. He was a perfect 8-for-8 in save chances at the end of May, also registering four holds while splitting ninth inning duties with Taylor Rogers.

June was not kind to Parker. He allowed nine earned runs over 10.2 innings, but only blew one lead for Minnesota. The famous "Bomba Squad" offense was building leads of four or five runs on a nightly basis, and there weren't a lot of close leads for the Twins bullpen to hold. Parker still had two saves and three holds during that month.

He opened July with seven shutout consecutive innings, picking up a win and two more holds. Parker allowed four runs in a troublesome outing against the Yankees on July 23rd, and was designated for assignment. He was about a week's worth of games on the active roster away from a $500,000 bonus. The Twins would've owed Parker an extra $1.5 million had he stayed on the active roster for the remainder of the regular season.

The Philadelphia Phillies signed Parker after he cleared waivers, and they re-signed him for the 2020 campaign as well. He had a strong showing during that COVID shortened season, going 3-0 with a 2.81 ERA in 16.0 innings.

Parker pitched for the Cleveland Indians in 2021, posting a 3.09 ERA in 43.2 relief innings.

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