The 2013 season is coming to a close and the Oakland Athletics currently have control of the American League Western Division with nine games left to play. The season has been a vicious roller coaster of emotion to say the least as the Athletics competed with the Atlanta Braves for the best record in baseball before going on a devastating skid, only to pick it back up before and after the All-Star break, to then collapse again, until finally putting all the pieces together at the end of August to maintain their footing at the top of the heap. Many factors and players contributed to the team’s success and failures, but nobody was able to hit bottom, rebound and put up dominating numbers quite like pitcher Jarrod Parker.

Parker was a first round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks back in 2007 but was traded to the Athletics along with Ryan Cook and Collin Cowgill during the Winter Meetings in December of 2011. With only one game of Major League experience with the Diamondbacks under his belt, Parker was figuratively thrown to the wolves as one of the centerpieces of the Athletics 2012 starting rotation. A team; need you be reminded, that was thought to win no more than 60 games that season. Not only did the Athletics exceed expectations by winning 94 games AND the division title on the last day of the season, Parker shined with a 13-8 record, a 3.47 ERA, a 1.263 WHIP and a team-leading 140 strikeouts.

Not a bad run for his first year. He finished in fifth place for the AL Rookie of the Year Award as he had to compete with Los Angeles Angels stud Mike Trout and Parker’s teammate Yoenis Cespedes who finished second. Needless to say, expectations for a stellar sophomore season with Parker were high.

Parker got the nod for the Athletics’ second game of the season against the Seattle Mariners, a team who most felt that Parker would eviscerate. This was not the case. Parker gave up four earned runs in five innings while only managing to strike out one batter, Brendan Ryan. First game jitters can be expected of a young pitcher so very little fuss was kicked up about it; however, Parker ended up going 1-3 in his next five starts. Once again critics weren’t freaking out too much, but Athletics fans were certainly pushing the panic button, demanding that he be sent down to the Sacramento River Cats to work out his issues. This was not an option in Billy Beane’s and Bob Melvin’s eyes.

In his first four starts in May the problems continued. Batters continuously teed off on Parker as his velocity was down, his pitches weren’t breaking effectively and an overall sense of confidence seemed to be missing as he went 1-2 in that stretch. His second loss came against the Texas Rangers on May 22nd in which he allowed three runs, but struck out five. Between April 20th and May 22nd Parker had struck out at least five batters in every outing. Parker’s outings were starting to mimic that of Ebby “Nuke” LaLoosh in Bull Durham. All the pieces were there, only the control was missing. It’s hard to say what it is was that made everything click, but it certainly didn’t take long as his next start, which happened to be against Bay Area rival the San Francisco Giants, is when Parker became nearly unstoppable.

From May 28th through September 10th Parker made 19 starts and went 9-0 during that stretch. His ERA dropped from a 5.76 to 3.55. Granted, he still had a few rough outing in which the offense bailed him out, but the promise and strikeout dominance that he showed in 2012 came rushing back. To really put it all into perspective you need to look at the other member of the rotation who has gotten way more attention. Bartolo Colon is leading the team with a 16-6 record with 21 quality starts to his credit in 28 starts. Parker has 22 quality starts to his name despite having made two more starts and compiling an 11-7 record. Parker has also thrown 28 more strikeouts than Colon; however, Colon boasts an ERA (2.73) and WHIP (1.189) which topples Parker’s 3.81 ERA and 1.227 WHIP. Both numbers really aren’t too bad for someone in their second year not named Tom Seaver. It’s hard to match his numbers.

Parker’s most recent start (Monday) was a rough outing against the Angels which ended with a loss for Parker off of seven earned runs. Some might see this as a sign that things are going to get worse while other will chalk it up to the obvious, Parker struggles against the Angels. In his last dues with the Halos Parker gave up six runs in five innings and prior to that he gave up three in six innings. Sometimes there are teams that have a pitcher’s number. Before mass hysteria is unleashed it should be helpful to know that he still has at least one more start this Saturday against the Minnesota Twins. Depending on how the series goes the Athletics could lock up the division title over the weekend, thus allowing Parker to miss his final start of the season in order to rest up for the playoffs. This might be a benefit as the Athletics are in position to rematch the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS and Parker was tagged for two of the three losses. Parker only faced the Tigers once this season back in April which ended with him leaving after giving up eight runs in three-and-a-third innings. So now, any bit of studying scouting reports or working with pitching coach Curt Young would potentially be better than one last hoorah against the Mariners.