TROY – Tri-City ValleyCats third baseman Pavin Parks, who was a Frontier League All-Star in 2022, kept fielding his position at a high level this season.
His hitting? Not so much – until the last week.
Parks, who batted .137 with one homer through his first 24 games of this season, is looking more like himself in the batter’s box lately. Over the past six games, he was 8-for-19 (.421) with four homers entering Saturday’s game against the Florence Y’alls at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
“Every season, there’s always going to be a stretch where you are really hot and times when you’re cold,” Parks said. “It happened to me last year more in the middle of the year, so it doesn’t look as bad in the middle of the season when you had a hot start. Just trying to see it well and do what I can to help the team and continue to just grind out at-bats and get better and better.”
Saturday’s scheduled doubleheader with Florence was turned into a single game because of a rain delay. The teams will play a 3 p.m. Sunday doubleheader.
Parks, a former Detroit Tigers prospect, quickly boosted his average to .196 with five homers and 16 RBIs entering Saturday. Last season, he finished at .284 with 17 homers and 64 RBIs.
“That’s what I would classify it as – just a little bit of a slow start, hitting some balls hard that are getting caught,” Parks said. “Eventually, the things turn where balls started finding holes and all that.”
And clearing the fences. He belted a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning at the Gateway Grizzlies last Sunday. He scorched a homer to right with an exit velocity of 112 miles per hour Thursday vs. Lake Erie.
Parks said ValleyCats manager Pete Incaviglia offered him small adjustments a couple of weeks ago.
“He’s working through it,” Incaviglia said. “Pavin was a great player for us last year….
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