Staying home: Smith goes from Astros fan to Astro
Brian McTaggart
@brianmctaggartHOUSTON ¨C The call came to the family home in Bellaire, a bedroom community in Houston known for having one of the best high school baseball programs in state history, and Parker Smith immediately clammed up. He had just been informed the hometown Astros had taken him in the fourth round of the MLB Draft, but he wanted his parents to see the news along with everyone else as it was announced on TV.
¡°It was a great kind of cliffhanger, so to say,¡± he said.
Smith, who played at Bellaire and then spent three years at Rice University in Houston, hopes the story only gets better from here now that he has a chance to play for his hometown Astros. Going with the 131st pick overall, he was one of six college right-handed pitchers the Astros took in the second day of the MLB Draft.
¡°It was awesome,¡± Smith said. ¡°It was a dream come true. I worked my butt off for the last 18 years of my life to get to this moment. It was definitely surreal. I kept who drafted me in the dark from my parents and my family. It was kind of a great surprise because I¡¯m staying home.¡±
Smith led Rice in wins, innings pitched (89 1/3) and strikeouts (78) in 15 starts this year for the Owls, including one complete game. Among American Athletic Conference pitchers, he ranked fifth in innings, sixth in strikeouts looking (24), eighth in strikeouts and 10th in ERA (4.23). As a junior in 2023, he threw 88 innings in 15 starts and had a 3.58 ERA. Smith allowed 12 homers in 220 1/3 innings in his college career.
He said he models his game after Zac Gallen of the D-backs and Aaron Nola of the Phillies, among others.
¡°He¡¯s obviously a guy who¡¯s posted in terms of volume,¡± Astros scouting director Cam Pendino said. "He¡¯s a sinker-slider guy and we think the changeup has some nice qualities to it, and we think the slider is something that can be polished up under our pitching tutelage. We think there¡¯s underlying usage stuff we can clean up with Parker. We¡¯re always excited to take local kids. For where we took him, we felt pretty good about that value.¡±
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Rice coach Jose Cruz Jr., a 12-year Major League veteran who also attended Bellaire and Rice and later played for the Astros, praised Smith as a ¡°bulldog¡± and a ¡°competitor.¡± He said Smith came to Rice and told Cruz that he wanted to be the Friday night starter. He was Rice¡¯s best pitcher the last two years, Cruz said.
¡°He¡¯s not quite what he¡¯s going to be,¡± Cruz said. ¡°He looks the part. Big 6-4 kid. He¡¯s got really good movement on the ball, can move it right to left, left to right. It¡¯s exciting. I am pretty positive he¡¯s a guy we¡¯re going to be able to see on TV quite a bit and I¡¯m looking forward to seeing what he looks like in that Astros uniform pitching at Minute Maid.¡±
Smith didn¡¯t attend the Astros¡¯ pre-Draft workout at Minute Maid Park and said he had minimal contact with the team¡¯s scouts prior the Draft, he said. He knew the Astros would be the perfect fit, and not just because it¡¯s the team he grew up rooting for. Smith got into analytics while working in Rice¡¯s pitching lab the last three years and is eager to see how the Astros can help him.
¡°I think the Astros were one of the first kind of teams to go head-in on that and that was pretty cool to see that all work out,¡± he said. ¡°To go to an analytically minded team is always good.¡±
Cruz said Smith began his college career as a sinkerball but has learned to throw a four-seamer as well.
¡°It¡¯s definitely more of the modern look when it comes to what pitchers¡¯ arsenals are,¡± he said. ¡°He¡¯s good, man. This year he was between 92 and 96 [mph] pretty consistently and he holds the velocity. Good things to come for him.¡±
Smith remembers watching Astros games when they were losing 100 games from 2011-13 and was there when they turned the corner and became a juggernaut. He attended a game of the 2021 World Series against the Braves and watched closely as the Astros won the World Series in 2017 and 2022.
¡°Now I can wear my gear again, all the gear I¡¯ve racked up over the years,¡± he said. ¡°And probably get more.¡±