When Gerardo Parra took the mound for the Nationals on August 3, 2019, along with his crew trailing 11-4 within the eighth inning in Arizona, he had no manner of figuring out the doubtful historical past he was about to make in the one pitching look of his 12-year profession. He walked the primary three batters he confronted, allowed an RBI single to Alex Avila, after which walked Diamondbacks reliever Zack Godley to convey residence one other run. That was sufficient for supervisor Davey Martinez, who opted to interchange Parra on the bump with second baseman Brian Dozer to face the lefty-hitting Jarrod Dyson. To arrange his desired defensive alignment with out making a substitution, Martinez moved third baseman Anthony Rendon to the keystone and despatched the left-handed Parra to the new nook — a place he’d by no means performed earlier than. Dyson doubled residence two runs, each charged to Parra. As switch-hitter Ketel Marte stepped into the right-handed batter’s field to face Dozer’s floaters, Martinez flipped Rendon and Parra, who then made his first and solely profession look at second. Marte flied out to proper earlier than Eduardo Escobar, a switch-hitter additionally batting right-handed, launched a three-run homer, with the primary of these runs additionally touchdown on Parra’s ledger.
In fact, three months later, the Nationals would win their first and solely World Collection championship, with Parra conducting rousing renditions of “Child Shark” each time he batted in Washington, however on that specific early-August night time, issues obtained ugly. Along with his ultimate line of zero innings, 5 runs (all earned), 4 walks, and one hit, Parra turned certainly one of solely three gamers to permit 5 or extra runs with out recording an out of their solely profession pitching look.
I convey this up as a result of the primary query on this week’s mailbag is concerning the worst main league pitcher ever. Parra just isn’t the reply as a result of he was not likely a pitcher, however his outing was a enjoyable little bit of trivia I got here throughout in my analysis, so I had no selection however to share it with you. Earlier than we get to the precise worst-pitcher-ever candidates, I’d prefer to remind all of you that whereas anybody can submit a query, this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. In case you aren’t but a Member and wish to preserve studying, you’ll be able to join a Membership right here. It’s the easiest way to each expertise the location and assist our employees, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, when you’d prefer to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
