The Royals added a ton of LHPs in the 2019 draft, and Drew Parrish is one of the most polished of the group. The story of the College World Series is all about Florida State’s head coach Mike Martin.  Martin has been at FSU since 1980 and will be retiring once this season is done.  FSU has never won the CWS and this is the last chance for the winningest coach in NCAA D1 history.

That being said, Royals fans should have a different reason for tuning into Game 2 matching Florida State and Arkansas.  Starting pitcher Drew Parrish was the Royals 8th round pick and started for FSU against Isaiah Campbell.  Martin said that he picked Parrish over the hard throwing RHP CJ Van Eyk because he wanted the younger guys to see how you need to compete in the CWS.  Parrish started because he is the role model and leader of the staff.

Parrish did not disappoint throwing an absolute gem on college baseball’s biggest stage.  Parrish went 8.0 innings allowing no runs on 5 H, 2 BB, and 9 strikeouts.  Parrish did have some trouble in a few spots but he was tough and worked through it saving his best pitches for those situations.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Arkansas was able to get a lead off double flipped down the right field line.  With no outs and a runner on second base, Parrish induced a ground out to shortstop before striking out Casey Martin (projected top 5 2020 draft pick) and Matt Goodheart.

Parrish uses his change up and curve in almost any situation and he really relied on the change in the bottom of the 8th against the two RHHs.  The change up is extremely advanced and has some strong arm side run.  The pitch is very deceptive and gets swings and misses from both RHHs and LHHs.  Most of the time is starts in the middle of the zone and sinks to the bottom of the zone although Parrish will start it lower and sink it farther to expand the zone.  The change had really good velocity coming in from 77 to 81.  That’s about 8 to 12 slower than his fastball.  Parrish does a really good job keeping his arm speed the same as well.

The fastball is a good pitch although it is not a top velo pitch that blows the doors off hitters.  Parrish works 90 to 92 and in this start he was spot on.  In the 8th inning after 100+ pitches, his fastball was still popping 92 with arm side run.  Parrish keeps his velo throughout the came.  The fastball does blow doors off hitters though after a change up.

Parrish throws his curve well.  The RPMs on his curve can exceed 2,900 which is an above average number for a curve.  The pitch has good depth and is sharp.  It isn’t an overly extreme break, but a very good shape that gets hitters out.  Several Razorbacks froze on this pitch while several flailed helplessly.  The both guys on ESPN raved about the spin rate at one point talking about how it is an above average MLB pitch.

Parrish is going to have success because of his craftiness and toughness.  He isn’t afraid of the situation and will continue to attack hitters.  He has a fluid arm and does a good job repeating his delivery.

The Royals got an advanced LHP in the 8th round which might be a steal based on the pitcher I watched tonight.  Arkansas is one of the best hitting teams in the nation and Parrish absolutely dominated them in this game.  He located all his pitches and made really good hitters look bad.  I can see Parrish trailing the group of college arms from last year nicely.  He isn’t the same high-ceiling type of guy but if he throws like he did tonight, he will be a very good innings eating LHP.

The Royals will have to wait to sign the junior Seminole until at least Thursday next week because we all know FSU is going to win the CWS and finish Martin’s career with the perfect Disney-style story book ending.

Photo Credits: Tallahassee Democrat