Letting It Ride All the Way from the Bronx

Over the past 2 years, Pete Parise has called 8 different places 'home' - 9 if you count the mound.  10 if you count the outfield.  Starting in 2007, the now 24-year old went from tracking down fly balls at the University of Pittsburgh to taking the ball in the 9^th inning for the Panthers.  After 10 days of Indy ball for the newly formed Slippery Rock Sliders, he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals where his rise through the system began in Johnson City, Tennessee and has continued in Batavia, New York - Davenport, Iowa - Palm Beach, Florida - Springfield, Missouri - and presently in Memphis, Tennessee - over 11,000 miles from where 'home' will always be in Bronx, New York.

 

Despite growing up across from the basketball courts, it was always baseball for Pete.  As a 10-year old, he'd travel 40 minutes to Brooklyn and over an hour to Long Island to play competitive baseball.  As a 12-year old, he had "an amazing experience" with a New York City All-Star Team playing 2 weeks of baseball in Tokyo.  "We spent 4 days with a host family and the first day, they tried to make a traditional American breakfast," Pete told me, "but on the second day, it was back to rice."  He was also quick to recall a trip to an open-air market that sold, among other things, "huge crab legs...I devoured that."  One of his teammates on that All-Star Team was Mike Baxter - born 2 days after Pete - and now playing in AAA for the San Diego Padres. 

 

It wasn't until his junior year at Cardinal Spellman High School that Parise realized that his talents could lead to a baseball career.  He was 16 when the first pro scout came to one of his games.  It was the late Buddy Paine, who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer less than a year ago.  Buddy was the first to tell Parise that his baseball career would be made on the pitcher's mound, not in the outfield or behind the plate as a catcher.  Pete told him that he appreciated the advice, but he was a hitter.  "I guess he was right," he says now with a laugh. 

 

The college recruiting process was as painless and stress-free as everything else seems to be for Pete.  "I wanted to go to Fordham, but I walked to my recruiting visit and my Dad told me to get out of the city."  He could have gone to St. Johns or Stony Brook, but it was his first visit that ultimately could have been his last.  "Pittsburgh is a great sports town, great people, great fans - something I wanted to be a part of."  He wanted to catch, that's what he loved to do, but there was a senior ahead of him, so when Head Coach Joe Jordano asked him if could play the outfield to keep his bat in the lineup, Pete thought to himself "yeah, that's not that tough" - but out loud was happy to say "yes." 

 

From his first series down at the University of New Orleans through the end of his college career, he made the outfield look pretty easy while doing the same at the plate becoming the school's all-time hits leader.  But pro scouts were still convinced his future was as a pitcher.  On April 13^th, 2007 - in front of a hometown New York crowd at St. Johns - with Pitt holding a 10-9 lead with the bases loaded and 1 out in the bottom of the 9^th, Coach Jordano threw Parise right into the fire.  The 6'1" righthander walked to the mound from his place in right field and started throwing 90-92 mph on his fastball and mixed in a slider that he learned in Little League - the same slider he uses now one step away from the majors.  That combination worked as he struck out the first batter he faced for the second out.  Now with 2 outs and the tying run on 3^rd, "the kid put down a swinging bunt in between the mound and first - I picked it up, and it was a bang-bang play that won us the game," Pete said as recapped his first collegiate save. 

 

Draft day came and went for Parise, and after not hearing his name called, he was packed up and ready to go to Florida where his parents had moved.  That's when he did get his name called - by the Slippery Rock Sliders of the Frontier League.  Parise upped his workouts, starting to feel his arm loosen by the day and was hitting 94 on the radar gun, working in that slider and a new 2-seamer and was "loving throwing to wood bats."  Life in the Frontier League didn't last long.  While on the road in Evansville, Indiana - Manager Greg Jelks, a career minor leaguer, called Parise to tell him that the Cardinals wanted to sign him.  Done deal.

 

Pete Parise isn't a high-energy reliever.  He's serious, but remains even-keel.  "Whatever happens, happens.  I can't beat myself up - no reason to put extra pressure on myself, just let it ride," he says.  Parise's never been one to agonize over game tape, but found himself spending a lot of time with pitching coach Ace Adams at the start of the 2008 season at Quad Cities.  Adams made the necessary mechanical adjustments for Parise to add late movement to his pitches and most importantly, was patient with his student as Pete got used to the new style and was trying things out with the game on the line.  13 saves and a 2.23 ERA later and the student moved on to the Florida State League. 

 

"The biggest jump was to AAA because the hitters are just better," Pete told me over the phone from his hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  "They're actually kind of annoying because they're too patient at the plate."  It may be his most challenging level of organized ball, but he's treating the opponent the same way he has since signing.  In 11 appearances spanning 11 innings, he's 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA while getting ground ball out after ground ball out and holding the opposition to a .244 batting average.  After his first Winter Ball experience in Columbia this past offseason, he came into spring training feeling great and is enjoying this rise up through the Cardinals system.

 

Not once in our conversation did we talk about what it would be like to play in the majors, but he's not shy asking teammates Jess Todd and Clayton Mortensen for their advice on how to get his hands on the big league spread.  For now, he's sampling the grub down South eating catfish and gumbo for the first time and putting down a ½ rack of ribs from Blue City Café.  "We were in New Orleans yesterday (6/30) and there was a big bag of crawfish in the clubhouse.  I crushed that."

 

The way Pete's going, he's going to be crushing the post-game meal at Busch Stadium sooner than anyone expected - even Buddy Paine.

 

Stay up to date on Pete Parise by going to his player page - http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=520868

 

Other notes:  Pete has lived with Brett Wallace for 2 years and says "he's legit" - as if Cardinals fans needed to hear any more reassurance about their first round pick from 2008.  Also, the Memphis Grizzlies drafted Parise's friend from college - Sam Young - who threw out the first pitch at the Memphis Redbirds game on 6/26 - http://memphis.redbirds.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090630&content_id=5617874&vkey=news_t235&fext=.jsp&sid=t235

 

I'm off to St. Louis on Thursday for the All-Star Game festivities and will be there through the 15^th - then back in the MLB.com studios on the 17^th. 

 

2 quotes for you since it's been a while since the last post -

 

"A hot dog at the ball game beats roast beef at the Ritz." - Humphrey Bogart  

 

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie