Parker adds some major pop

As his teammates scattered across the country, Jarrett Parker stayed in Charlottesville last summer. While many of the top returning University of Virginia baseball players suited up for amateur summer league teams, Parker stayed back to work on something just as important as hitting or throwing: his strength.

Parker has put on 20 pounds of muscle since his freshman season at Virginia, and the hard work last summer has showed immediate and amazing dividends. The sophomore center fielder and Colonial Forge High School graduate hit .419 in his first 108 at bats this season for the Cavaliers, who were ranked No. 10 in the country as of April 4.

He led Virginia in nearly every major offensive category through April 2, including doubles (13), triples (four), homers (seven), RBIs (35), runs (42), on-base percentage (.519) and slugging (.819). Parker said he now weighs about 205 pounds.

“I feel I am much better. I stayed in Charlottesville and I gained a lot of weight. I am feeling really good,” said Parker, who hit just .264 with no homers in 148 at bats in 2008 as a freshman.

Parker, who hits leadoff for Virginia, said he and head coach Brian O’Connor “were somewhat at odds” over how the Stafford resident should spend the summer of 2008. While the Cavs send players to the Valley Baseball League and other college summer circuits, Parker convinced O’Connor that he needed to work on his strength. Parker admitted it was tough to watch some of his teammates head off to summer leagues, but the payoff was worth it as he plans to play in June for Brewster in the Cape Cod League in Massachusetts, considered the best summer college league in the country.

“It has made a difference on how he carries himself,” O’Connor said in a phone interview from Charlottesville. “He walks around a more confident and self-assured young man. That translates to the baseball field. The ball really jumps off his bat. He has been a real shot in the arm for our team.”

Virginia won its first 19 games this season to set a school record for consecutive wins to start the year and most wins in a row overall. The Cavs were 24-4 overall and 6-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference as of April 2. Virginia opens up a series April 10 at Georgia Tech.

One of the top players for Virginia last year, shortstop Greg Miclat, was drafted in the fifth round last June by the Baltimore Orioles. Jacob Thompson, a pitcher, was taken in the same round by the Atlanta Braves.

“We are a young team. It is our goal every year to make it to Omaha,” Parker said of the site of the annual College World Series. The only school from Virginia to ever make the College World Series was James Madison, which advanced to Omaha in 1983.

David Driver is a contributing writer for the Stafford County Sun. He can be reached at info@staffordcountysun.com.