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South Side Sox Top Prospect No. 68: John Parke

While not a big strikeout pitcher, the southpaw has had some nice success in the White Sox system

By whisoxman20051917
Dress to impress: Nothing about Parke’s physical presence overwhelms — he just keeps getting the job done.
Tiffany Wintz (@TiffW96)/South Side Sox

John Parke
6´4´´
205 pounds
Throws: Left
Age: 24
SSS rank among all left-handed starting pitchers in the system: 6

During Parke’s first two seasons with South Carolina, spanning 15 relief outings, he didn’t allow an earned run — although he walked 12 and struck out 13 in 12 innings of work. However, his luck failed with the Gamecocks in his junior season, when Parke suffered an 8.53 ERA and 1.74 WHIP by allowing 35 hits and nine walks while striking out 21 in his 25 innings of work. However, White Sox scouts clearly saw enough in Parke to grab him in the 21st round of last year’s MLB draft. After receiving a $30,000 signing bonus, Parke went on to pitch in 14 games (10 starts) for the AZL White Sox and posted a 2.77 ERA and 1.08 WHIP covering 68 1⁄3 innings, allowing 65 hits (.248 OBA) and just nine walks (3.3%) but striking out 46 (16.7%).

Parke bypassed Great Falls in 2018 and split the season with Kannapolis and Winston-Salem. Combined for both teams, he managed a 3.53 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 153 innings, allowing 159 hits (.267 OBA) and 39 walks (6.0%) while fanning 119 hitters (18.2%). His numbers weren’t as good with Winston-Salem, for the obvious reasons reasons that it’s a hitters’ ballpark and the competition was stronger. However, Parke likely was undergoing some serious fatigue, as he pitched 47 more innings than he he did in his combined three years with South Carolina and the AZL Sox.

Lefties and righties put up the same numbers against him, which indicates that Parke has a solid changeup to neutralize lefties. An above-average curveball is the third pitch in Parke’s repertoire. He doesn’t throw a blazing fastball (low 90s peak), so Parke relies on keeping the ball down and staying ahead of the hitters. In 2019, Parke will repeat a stint at Winston-Salem, working as the No. 3 or 4 man in the rotation.

Take a look!

Courtesy of our friends at 2080 Baseball.

2019 South Side Sox Top 100 Prospects

68. John Parke, LHSP
69. Mike Morrison, RHRP
70. Zach Remillard, 3B
71. Luis Martinez, RHSP
72. Zach Lewis, RHSP
73. José Nin, RHRP
74. Colton Turner, LHSP
75. Jhoandro Alfonso, C
76. Ramon Beltre, 2B
77. Charlie Tilson, CF
78. Hunter Kiel, RHRP
79. Jason Bilous, RHSP
80. Nick Johnson, RHRP
81. Danny Dopico, RHRP
82. Harvin Mendoza, 1B
83. Logan Sowers, RF
84. Maiker Feliz, 3B
85. Brayan Herrera, RHSP
86. Craig Dedelow, LF
87. Wilber Pérez, RHSP
88. Kyle Kubat, LHRP
89. Johan Dominguez, RHRP
90. Mitch Roman, 2B
91. Ty Greene, C
92. Tanner Banks, LHSP
93. Jake Elliott, RHRP
94. Kevin Escorcia, LHRP
95. Luis Rodriguez, RHSP
96. Ian Dawkins, LF
97. Victor Diaz, RHRP
98. Travis Moniot, LF
99. Will Kincanon, RHRP
100. Brian Clark, LHRP

More information on South Side Top Prospects.

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