Parnell turns up heat in Houston

New York Mets pitcher Bobby Parnell (39) has thrown the fastest pitch in the majors this season. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

By Bret Strelow

bstrelow@salisburypost.com

New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey struck out Geoff Blum with a 62-mph pitch against the Houston Astros last Wednesday.

Mets reliever Bobby Parnell, an East Rowan High School graduate, turned up the heat in Houston’s Minute Maid Park later that evening.

Parnell recorded the fastest pitch in the majors this season when, according to the PitchFX system, he hit 102.5 mph while facing Chris Johnson in the 11th inning. Parnell fanned three batters in two perfect frames and reached 100 mph 10 times for New York, which won 3-2 in 14 innings.

“I know I’m throwing good, and I feel like I can let loose,” Parnell told MLB.com. “You just try to ride the wave.”

Parnell, who couldn’t be reached by the Post for comment, has a 3.24 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 27 games for the Mets. He has 23 scoreless appearances, and his ERA was at 0.96 in late July before two rough outings inflated the number.

New York has used Hisanori Takahashi as its closer since placing Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list, but Parnell could also get the chance to finish games. He pitched a perfect ninth inning and hit 100 mph with one fastball in a 7-2 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.

“You want to see a Parnell be a closer in this organization,” Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen told The Star-Ledger of Newark (N.J.). “We’re moving into that direction where we have a lot of our own people going out there and doing a pretty good job.

“Unfortunately, Parnell, in the eighth inning, we’ve used him in the past, he hasn’t closed out the innings. Very seldom has he gotten an out. But he’s got to mature into that, because he has the stuff to be a closer.”

Parnell has received national notoriety for his performance against the Astros.

Twenty-nine of his 30 pitches were four-seam fastballs, and the 102.5-mph offering to Johnson was a swinging third strike. Injured Detroit Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya hit 102.2 two times earlier this season, and a 102.0-mph pitch from Parnell to Jason Castro in the same appearance against Houston ranks fourth in the majors this year.

According to Efastball.com, Parnell would be tied for sixth place in MLB history on the site’s “fastest pitchers ever” list. He’d join Nolan Ryan (career high of 108.1 mph in 1974), Bob Feller (107.6 in 1946), Zumaya (104.8 in 2006), Mark Wohlers (103.0 in 1995), Jonathan Broxton (102.6 in 2009) and Steve Dalkowski (102.5 in 1958).

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To see video of Parnell’s outing in Houston, visit http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=11130601&c_id=nym