Minor league right-hander Robert Parnell has joined Triple A New Orleans after spending the duration of the year in AA Binghamton. Parnell went 10-6 with a 4.30 ERA in 24 starts for the B-Mets.

I was open to trading Parnell at the deadline, moreso than trading fellow minor league pitcher Jon Niese, but am glad we held onto him if we weren’t able to get a nice proven talent in return. Parnell showed in Spring Training that he has the talent to perform at the big league level, and it’s nice to that we have some depth in the system.

The Mets fell to the Marlins this afternoon by a score of 7-5.  Ricky Nolasco got the win for the fish. Nelson Figueroa took the loss for the Mets. For a full recap, head on over to MLB.com.

A few notes

• Starter Bobby Parnell was impressive, going five innings without allowing a run
• Carlos Delgado had arguably his best day at the plate this spring, going 2-5 with two rbis.
• It was not a good day for bullpen hopefuls Joe Smith and Figueroa, who both allowed three runs in an inning of work.
• Duaner Sanchez allowed a run in a single inning of work.

The highlight of this game was definetely Parnell. With him and Jon Niese, we may have found two diamonds in the rough…

Bobby Parnell is a 6′3″, 180 lbs 23 year old right handed pitcher who the Mets drafted in the 9th round of the 2005 draft. The Mets were most impressed with his sinker and gave him his start with the Brooklyn Cyclones. He dominated the league with a 1.73 ERA in 73 innings pitched.

When Parnell was promoted to Hagerstown, his ERA rose to 4.10, he didn’t fare much better after three starts for the St. Lucie Mets, posting an ERA over 9 in three starts.

Parnell’s next stop was the Hawaiian Winter League, where he compiled a 6.21 ERA in 29 IP.

Last year he showed marked improvement, returning to St. Lucie and posting a 3.25 ERA and struck out 62 batters over 12 starts and 55 innings. He was able to harness his slider until he was sent to Binghamton, when he again lost his consistency. He had a 3.13 ERA in June, a 6.75 ERA in July, and a 3.24 ERA in August, which averaged out to 4.77.

Parnell’s fastball sits in the low 90s and regularly hits 95 late in games. He generates a lot of groundouts with his heavy sinker. His slider sits touches the mid-80s.

He has yet to develop full trust in his changeup and seems to try to pitch around batters rather than try to simply throw and induce groundouts.

Today, in his start against the Marlins, Parnell set down the first six Marlins to face him including Dan Uggla, Mike Jacobs, Josh Willingham and Hanley Ramirez, who struck out looking.

For more about Parnell’s performance today, head over to Mets Blog to read Matthew Cerrone’s comments.

Head to SNY.tv for an interview I did with Jon Niese and Bobby Parnell last week at Tradition Field.