Wes Parsons joins Charlie to share his journey from playing baseball at Clarksville High School, to playing in the MLB. Wes is currently on roster for the Cleveland Guardian's Triple A team.
Clarksville Conversations with Charlie Koon
Wes Parsons: From Clarksville High to the MLB
I've lived in Clarksville, Montgomery County nearly my entire life, and I've seen a lot of growth and met some amazing people along the way. There's a lot going on in our community, and on this podcast, I hope shed some light on what's going on in Clarksville. I'm Charlie Kuhn, and this is Clarksville Conversation. Well, how you doing, buddy? I'm good, Charlie. Thanks for having me. Oh, man, absolutely. I miss seeing you, you know, every now and then would see you on the golf course. How's your golf game? Oh, you know, golf game is a little rusty. I haven't played in a while, especially after having my son. It's been hard to get out there. Oh, that's right. The life of a new dad. How's that going? It's amazing. I couldn't ask for anything better. Mm-hmm. So was that-- has that-- that's been over a year, hadn't it? Yeah. He's almost two. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's been amazing. And then we're expecting a daughter in October. Dude. You're kind of busy. You're working. You're playing. He got it all going on. Yeah, we're getting it all done. Man. So, tell me, do you miss coming to Clarksville some? I do. I mean, yeah. I've been in the off season and enjoy hanging out with all the guys and seeing people. I haven't seen them in a while, obviously, but no, yeah, I miss being home and yeah, I'm in Clarksville. Great. You know, I did. You know, go back to your golf game. I used to think, man, if this baseball gig doesn't work out, West could play some golf. Oh, yeah. It's kind of funny because I had to make a decision in high school about that. I don't know if you ever heard about that, but yeah, I had jokes handling come up to me every single day, my junior year, like, hey, come up once you come out and get back into baseball. And at the time, I was focusing 100% on golf and yeah, so I went off to practice and then kind of the rest of the rest of history, you know, coach, I see him. He's playing a bunch. You know, when he's not doing his baseball deal and man, he's, he's stroking him pretty good. No, yeah, he loved it. Every time I see him over at Clarksville High, he's always, he's talking about, yeah, I'm going to go hit some balls this afternoon. Who would have thought that he would have had the crystal ball for your career to say, hey, Wes, you're good at, you're good at golf, but baseball is where it's at. Yeah, you know, I'd never would have known it and, you know, if you, if you asked me then if I thought I'd be where I am now, I probably wouldn't believe you. So it's kind of crazy. Can you kind of give us a little walkthrough of your baseball career? You played at Clarksville High School and you went to, was it Jackson State? Yeah, Jackson State Community College. Yeah. Just kind of walk us through that and how you got to where you are now. So yeah, I played at Jackson State and I believe it was like 11, 12. Yeah. And then I went up to, actually didn't even really start going hard until probably the end of kind of our conference tournament. And then what we got, our conference tournament, I was 9192 and then we had, I think it was a Maryland, like one of the Maryland coaches was asking about me and then I had a, one of my pitching coaches and Jackson State, Stephen Brown. He's like, hey, there's an opportunity for you to go up to the Northwoods league and play in Canada. It was the only team in Canada, they were called the Thunderbake Bordercats. And yeah, I went up there, fits really well, went to the All-Star game. I didn't think anything of it, but I'm through, it was still in my hardest of the time. I was up to 95, actually. Yeah. And then I can't, I come in after that All-Star game and I have probably six voicemails from proteins asking, you know, the, the throwing for the throw for them or kind of tell them about my situation. And actually one of the first calls I got was from the Braves and I was just like, wow, this is, this is amazing that when the Braves, you know, grew up watching them and I still, I mean, still love them to the, to this day. And then it was Terry Tripp with the scout and I still talked to him to this day and we talked about hunting and all that good stuff. You know, that, that, that's every boy's dream growing up. You know, I say every most boys just saying, man, if I could play pro baseball. Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's crazy. You know, I never thought that I would honestly go down that path. Um, but yeah, that's, that's nuts. And then, uh, end up playing for the entry agent with the Braves and then end up playing with them until 2019, uh, had debuted with them in 18 against the Nationals. And then what happened next? I then was, uh, I think, yeah, DFA, and then claimed by the Colorado Rockies. Yeah. And then played with them for a month and a half at the end of 2019. And then that next year I signed a, uh, a split deal with them. The COVID years, the 2020, yeah. And, uh, yeah, two weeks in the spring training, we all get sent home. Everything gets shut down and that's actually when I got home to started playing golf every day. I mean, me and Ryan Harper playing golf every day. Okay. All right. Yeah. I knew you'd have to bring him up. So what, uh, who's a better golfer? I already know the answer. Um, I mean, he, when he plays really well, he sticks around and, and you know, he's gotten, he's gotten a lot better and he's, I mean, he's a great golfer now. Yeah. Yeah. He's always trying to get, get an unfair match against me. You know, I'm, I'm a old guy playing from the two, three combos and he's hitting them a mile past me and he just wants to take my money. Yeah. Yeah. These are, these are good one to get into a game with that's for sure. So, uh, well, we'll leave Ryan alone. I'll, I'll probably hear from him later. Um, so you spent some time in Korea, right? Um, yeah, it's been two years in Korea in, uh, 21 and 22. And, um, yeah, that experience was amazing. So what, what's the level of talent in Korea, uh, versus the United States? Like on, in the league you played in, what, what would you compare that to? Um, you know, it's, I would say it has guys full of all levels. Um, I would say your top guys are, you know, big leaders and then you're, uh, and then you got some AAA talent and I'm kind of just filters down into double A and, but it's a, it's a very competitive league. It's, uh, I think there's only only 10 teams so we play each other a lot. And so that's kind of what makes it difficult as you playing each team over and over and over again. Yeah, you, you kind of know the tendencies of the batters and they know some years, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, now you're back. You're back. Tell it. Tell us what you got going on now. Uh, we're back with, uh, I'm with the Cleveland Guardians now. Um, I broke with Toronto out of spring training this year and it's been about two weeks in the big leagues with them didn't go so well and then was, uh, DFA by the Toronto and then I was traded from Toronto to Cleveland where I started touching a lot better. Oh, so we're in, uh, let's see, most of my first, the first outing was with, uh, against the Yankees and then the second was with Boston and then now I'm in AAA with, with the Guardians and Columbus. So, so what do you attribute like maybe struggling a day or two and then, and then playing better later? Is there, is it a mindset or was it just something going on or what? Um, you know, it's just, I feel like sometimes I start, I can start, some guys start off a little slower. Yeah. Then kind of get into a groove. That's probably what's kind of happened with me this year. So, so, uh, when do you pitch again? Um, I should pitch, I believe on Wednesday here in Columbus, we play the Toledo Mudhins. Toledo Mudhins, have you got a game even through, through high school, through the pros that stands out as your favorite game that you pitched? You know, um, believe it or not, I'm going to say it's probably a couple of weeks ago, playing against the Boston Red Sox, honestly, it came in, yep, came into anything to release towards the end of the game and probably one of my best games in the big leagues. Really? Have you got, I asked Ryan this one day, have you got, um, a batter, uh, that you've pitched against that one that you were just excited about or that you struck out or something that's just stands out in your mind? Um, yeah. So actually my first big league strike out was against Ryan Zimmerman. Wow. And, uh, I thought that was pretty cool. I mean, the guys got a lot of time in the big leagues and it'd be a Hall of Famer. So, I mean, that was pretty cool. Yeah. But I think Ryan pitched against pooholes and some others. I bet you've got some other big guys you pitched against. Oh, yeah. Um, see, take up 50 and, uh, fish against the brave lineup. I mean, the Koonia and all those guys. Oh, man, they're good too. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that team is amazing. Have you got a go to pitch? Um, yeah, so my fastball is pretty good. And but, um, I think we're, I get a lot of successes. I throw a 12 six curveball. So, so 12 six, that's like on the clock, right? Tell us what that means. Yeah. Yeah. 12 six, this means you had to straight down, um, and then you got, when you have this like regular curveball that don't have like this, the straight down movement, more like a side to side movement, and you have the slider that, uh, this kind of looks like a fastball just kind of has a little less movement, hard left movement. Mm hmm. What? And then a lot of guys nowadays are throwing sweepers. And so what does that mean? You know, sweepers like a, uh, hard to explain, but it has like it just real, real like East to West movement. Yeah. It's pretty impressive. Actually, all guys get to get the ball to move like that. So, so is, what's the speed difference between some of your, some of your pitches? Cause I know you clock all those things. Yeah. So, um, my fastball this year has been anywhere from 93 to 97. Um, and then my curveball usually anywhere from like 81 to 85. Mm hmm. So do you have, have you hit a home run in the majors? Yeah. I know you don't get the bat much run in the majors, but I have, I actually have hit a home run in double A. Oh, have you? Yeah. Yeah. Do you like the bat? I do. I love the bat, but my, my big league batting averages pretty, pretty sure you throw with a lot of strikeout. Well, it's not something you focus on. I'm sure. No, it's not, but it's so cool to get in the box and, you know, face the best. Oh, there's no, no doubt about it. Man, it's so good to talk to you. I, I love baseball and always have and, and just watching people's careers, it's, it's really, really pretty cool. Do you, do you think that, and I know it's hard to tell, but you looking for a call up pretty quick. Um, I mean, we'll see, so I, when I was optioned, you have to spend a minimum of 15 days in the minor leagues. Oh, okay. Okay. So whenever that 15 days is up, they can call you up or pretty much do whatever they want. So whatever that time comes, it comes, I usually, I'd like to take it day by day. Yeah. So yeah, you know, you never want to, you never know what's around the corner, but it sounds like, it sounds like your speeds up, you know, up there pretty good and you got a lot of good pitches. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's been, it's been, it's been coming together for sure for me. So I'm thankful for that. I'm going to take you, I'm going to take you way back because I, of course, I've not a pro baseball player, but I remember little leagues and coaches that, that really influenced me to play. Do you have somebody that, when you were little, that really just kind of kind of gave you the good vibe on, on being able to play? Um, I mean, I mean, obviously dad, and he was, and mom were both big into that and actually grew up being good friends with Brandon Thomas, and then you got Scott Thomas. They were, they were all like my little league coaches. They were, they were big into it too. And yeah, they helped out a lot. Yeah. Well, maybe, maybe when you get home and you got a little time off, I'll draft you to be on one of my scramble teams. I need a, I need a long knocker on there. Oh, yeah. I'm definitely your man. Well, last listen, man, I appreciate you taking time and, and best of luck to you with your baseball career, but even more importantly, best of luck to you with your, with your kids, man. I mean, that's, that's what's going to be with you forever. And we sure are proud of you. So Charlie, I really appreciate it. It means a lot. All right, brother, we'll hang in there and we're going to be watching best of luck to you. All right, sounds good. [BLANK_AUDIO]