Giants: Virginia alum Jarrett Parker still cavalier about NCAA basketball loss.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Outfielder Jarrett Parker must be an expert on retrievers. For some reason, everyone who approached him Saturday in the Giants’ clubhouse, the dining room, the weight room and the training room wanted to talk to him about retrievers and all sorts of dogs.
Like the prohibitive underdogs who swamped topseeded Virginia by 20 points in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.
Parker is a once-proud Virginia Cavalier who had to wear it from teammates after the upset by 16th-seeded University of Maryland-Baltimore County. The Retrievers. “Oh, goodness,” Parker said during a moment of peace before Saturday’s game against the A’s. “I’ve been getting worn out. They’re talking about retrievers, making dog jokes and whatnot.”
Parker did not have to wait until Saturday to hear it. After watching the game at a North Scottsdale watering hole, he came home and started to play video games with his spring training roommate, reliever Will Smith, who feigned ignorance and asked Parker about the game.
“It was a quick conversation,” Smith said. “It was just a bad game. Yadda, yadda, yadda. We just moved on from there.”
Parker moved on to right field against the A’s on Saturday afternoon to continue his bid for a spot on the 25-man roster.
Much has changed since this time a year ago, when Parker won the Opening Day left-field job. At 28, the 2010 second-round pick out of — well, you know which school — finally had a shot to secure his place in the majors.
But he started 3-for-21, then landed on the disabled list for more than three months with a broken right collarbone, which happened in the 13th game of the season when he crashed into the wall while catching and holding onto a drive by the Rockies’ DJ LeMahieu.
Parker returned in August and did OK over 42 games, batting .262 with 12 doubles, a triple and four homers in 145 at-bats.
As he went home for the winter, destined for adventure trips to Brazil and Iceland, he had to know the Giants were not going to leave the outfield to chance in 2018. The Austin Jackson signing and Andrew McCutchen trade leave Parker on the bubble as final cuts loom.
If Parker is angry with the fates for the injury that robbed his best chance to become an everyday player, he hasn’t shown it.
“I still think I have a lot of years left,” he said. “I have a lot of things I can offer the game, still.”
Parker is out of minorleague options, so the Giants would be forced to run him through waivers before sending him to Triple-A. He started slowly this spring and has a .222 average with 20 strikeouts in 36 at-bats. His eight hits do include three doubles, a triple and two home runs.
Keeping him might be tough, given his spring struggles, the new outfield makeup and the need for more centerfield depth.
The Giants could try to find another home for Parker if he does not fit their roster, maybe the Orioles, who play at Camden Yards. That’s seven minutes by car from UMBC. Parker knows the place. He played in a high school tournament there.
As he watched the second half Friday night, Parker was sure Virginia would storm back and win until the inevitable set in with about six minutes left.
“That’s just the way it goes sometimes,” he said. “I’m used to dealing with things like that. I was definitely upset. It definitely put a damper on the night. But you’ve got to keep moving forward.
Now that’s the dogged attitude a person needs after watching his school go down.