Kyle James Parker (born September 30, 1989) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

. Parker was highly regarded during his prep career as both a baseball and football player and chose to attend

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

to play both sports. After redshirting during his freshman season, Parker spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons as the starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the Clemson Tigers football team. He was also an integral part of the school's baseball team. Parker was drafted by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

as the 26th overall pick in the

2010 Major League Baseball Draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pic ...

and made his

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) debut with them in 2014.

Early years

Parker attended

Bartram Trail High School Bartram Trail High School (BTHS) is a public high school in the St. Johns County School District, located in northwest unincorporated St. Johns County, Florida (U.S.) that opened in 2000. More than a decade ago, the school was ranked number 327 ...

in St. Johns County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He played both baseball and football and was a highly regarded recruit in both sports. He came out of high school as the #34 overall player in the country and #4 quarterback in the country according to ESPN. Parker first started at quarterback the last five games of his sophomore season where he threw for 870 yards and rushed for 450. In his junior year he threw for 1,850 yards and rushed for 700 while accounting for 27 touchdowns. He was also invited to the Under Armour All-American game, where he threw the game-winning touchdown pass. In baseball, he was a first team all state and county selection his junior season. He did not play his senior season due to him enrolling at Clemson in January 2008 of his senior year.

College career

Football

After spending the 2008 season redshirting, Parker started all 14 of the Tigers' games at quarterback in 2009. He finished the season completing 205 of 369 passes for 2,526 yards with 20

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and 12

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. The pass completions, passing yards and touchdowns were all Clemson freshman records. He was named a second-team freshman All-American by ''

College Football News ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis include ...

'' and a first-team freshman All-

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

by ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''. He guided Clemson to nine wins his freshman year with those numbers. One of those wins was against a top ten team on the road in Miami where he threw three touchdowns. He led the Tigers to 34 points in seven different games. Against N.C. State, Wake Forest and, Middle Tennessee State he was named the team's offensive player of the week. He also had a streak with at least one touchdown pass in seven straight games. He ended up throwing for over 200 yards in five games and had over 200 yards of total offense in seven. He ended the season in seventh in both passing yards and ratings at 180.4 and 124.4 respectively. In Clemson's bowl game he threw for 141 yards and a touchdown in a bowl win over Kentucky. He was the first freshman quarterback to take his team to a conference championship game. He was also the first Clemson freshman to start in a bowl win.

Baseball

As a freshman in 2008, Parker was a first-team freshman All-American by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' after he hit .303 with 14

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 50

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

in 57 games. He was also a first-team All-ACC selection his freshman year. He led his team in home runs and was second in slugging percentage at .559 and, walks at 32. In ACC play he batted .336 with ten home runs, thirty four RBI and a .441 on-base percentage in 29 ACC games. He was tied for second in home runs, was second in RBI, and fifth in slugging percentage. He had a streak in May where he had an RBI in nine straight games. Parker was named ACC player of the week on April 28. He had five games in that stretch where he batted .375 while scoring six runs, having two doubles, three home runs and twelve RBI. As a junior in 2009, Parker hit .255 with 12 home runs and 52 RBI in 63 games. He started sixty games. Forty nine were in right field and eleven as the designated hitter. In ACC play Parker hit .295 with seven home runs and 23 RBI in 27 games. He also hit a team-high seven times. In the Clemson and South Carolina series he was given the Bob Bradley Award for being Clemson's MVP. He batted .400 with a home run, seven RBI, four runs, and a walk. He was named ACC player of the week again on April 13 for batting .444 with two home runs, eleven RBI, four runs, and three walks. During the season, he had a streak of seven straight hits - one shy of the school record. Parker also had an amazing day on April 11 where he went 3-for-7 with two home runs, five RBI, and three runs in a doubleheader. Earlier that day he played quarterback for the Tigers in the spring football game where he threw 171 yards and a touchdown. Parker was also chosen to the All-ACC preseason team and was ranked as the #32 player in the country. He is also the first Division I athlete ever to throw twenty touchdown passes and hit twenty home runs in the same academic year.

Professional career

Colorado Rockies

Parker drafted by the

in the first round of the

. He made his professional debut in 2011 with the Single-A

Asheville Tourists The Asheville Tourists are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville teams have played under the Tourists moniker in differen ...

, and hit .285/.367/.483 with 21 home runs and 95 RBI in 117 games with the team. In 2012, Parker played for the High-A

Modesto Nuts The Modesto Nuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Modesto, California, and are named for the several types of nuts grown in the region. They play the ...

, clubbing 23 home runs and 73 RBI while hitting .308/.415/.562 in 102 games. Parker played in 123 games for the Double-A

Tulsa Drillers The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club. Stadium The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounc ...

in 2013, slashing .288/.345/.492 with 23 home runs and 74 RBI. He was added to the Rockies' 40-man roster following the season on November 20, 2013. Parker was assigned to the Triple-A

Colorado Springs Sky Sox The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were a Minor League Baseball team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and was the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Milwaukee Brewers (2015–2018), Colorado Rockie ...

to begin the 2014 season. Parker was promoted to the major leagues for the first time on June 16, 2014, and made his MLB debut that day. As a pinch hitter for Ryan Wheeler, Parker struck out against

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

reliever J.P. Howell. Parker played in 18 major league games in 2014, going 5-for-26 in 18 games, but hit a much more robust .289/.336/.450 in 128 Triple-A games. In 2015, Parker split time between the Triple-A

Albuquerque Isotopes The Albuquerque Isotopes are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They play home games at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at an el ...

and the major league team. On August 5, 2015, Parker hit his first major league homer, a solo shot off of

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

reliever

Mayckol Guaipe Mayckol Guaipe (; born August 11, 1990) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners. Career Seattle Mariners Guaipe was signed by the Seattle Mariners as an undrafted f ...

. Parker finished the 2015 season hitting .280/.326/.431 in 93 games with Albuquerque, but just .179/.223/.311 in 46 games for the Rockies. On January 20, 2016, Parker was designated for assignment following the signing of

Gerardo Parra Gerardo Enrique Parra (born May 6, 1987) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants ...

, and was outrighted to Triple-A on January 29. Parker was invited to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, but was released by the Rockies on April 2, 2016.

Cincinnati Reds

On April 25, 2016, Parker signed a minor league contract with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. He was assigned to the Double-A

Pensacola Blue Wahoos The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are based in Pensacola, Florida, and play their home games at Admiral Fetterman Field. In 2012, the team rel ...

, but hit just .192/.328/.326 with 4 home runs and 14 RBI in 44 games for the club. On June 28, Parker was released by the Reds organization.

Post-playing career

Following his playing career, in July 2017, Parker returned to Clemson to finish his degree, and joined the football team as an assistant coach. Parker shared a house with former Rockies teammate Ben Paulsen while finishing his degree.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Kyle 1989 births Living people People from Evans, Georgia Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Under Armour All-American football players American football quarterbacks Major League Baseball left fielders Colorado Rockies players Clemson Tigers football players Clemson Tigers baseball players Asheville Tourists players Modesto Nuts players Tulsa Drillers players Salt River Rafters players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Albuquerque Isotopes players Pensacola Blue Wahoos players