Young dad gets another chance he can’t afford to lose with Hawks — and he’s thriving

When Frederis Parra’s son, Liam, was born two years ago, it seemed like the minor-league pitcher had it all figured out.

He was pitching in the St. Louis Cardinals organization in Peoria, Illinois, while sending money to his soon-to-be wife, who was living in the Dominican Republic while pregnant.

After finishing his 2017 campaign, his sixth with the organization, his career, and life, came crashing down.

“They said they don’t have a spot for me,” Parra said this week, sitting in the Boise Hawks’ dugout, speaking with the Idaho Statesman through a Spanish translator. “It was really bad for me. I thought I wasn’t going to be a professional. I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

His ERA, though low in 2017, had at times bloomed to as high as 8.33 in 2015, when he had stops in the Gulf Coast League and the Appalachian League. Even though his ERA had dropped by 4.86 runs per nine innings, the Cardinals had seen enough and gave up on their 2012 decision to sign the then-16-year-old. Parra’s release came three months after Liam was born, leaving his family with no income.

“In this line of work, you are not guaranteed tomorrow,” Hawks manager Steve Soliz said. “It’s a performance-based game.”

Not only was Parra’s dream of playing professional baseball seemingly over, but it also seemed that his family’s financial well-being would be in jeopardy. He broke the news to his wife, Ruth, and began to cry.

“He has to support his family,” said teammate Bladimir Restituyo, who was signed by the Rockies out of the Dominican Republic. “It is really hard, but this is what he has to do because it’s his dream and his family.”

As the 2018 season closed in, there still were no calls from teams. But then the Rockies called in May last year, providing Parra with a second chance. He pitched in Boise (4.41 ERA in 16 1/3 innings) and long-season Single-A Asheville (4.73 ERA, 64 2/3 innings).

“It was my chance to continue being a professional,” Parra said. “It was another chance to get a better life for my family.”

After a brief stop in Asheville this spring, Parra was assigned to Boise when the Northwest League began play in June. His fastball, slider, change-up combo has baffled hitters to a 0.58 ERA over 31 innings (25 hits, 23 strikeouts).

“He is pitching with a lot of confidence,” Soliz said. “When the slider is not there, the change-up has been. But the one thing he has had start in and start out is fastball command.”

That’s the kind of potential the Cardinals saw when they signed Parra on his 16th birthday, the same day international amateurs become eligible to sign a professional contract. Parra’s first deal included a $60,000 signing bonus. He could not say how much he makes now, but did say that it’s “a lot” more than he would be making as a fisherman in the Dominican.

“I don’t know because I don’t have a kid, but it seems like it is difficult to manage that,” Restituyo said.