The City of Salisbury, NC

Salisbury Fire Chief Robert Parnell's son, Bobby Parnell , drafted by New York Mets!

Statistics aren't always worth the paper they're printed on.

Former East Rowan standout Bobby Parnell posted ugly numbers during his junior baseball season at Charleston Southern, but the New York Mets see happier days in Parnell's future.

New York selected the quiet, 6-foot-3, 175-pound fireballer in the ninth round of Tuesday's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Parnell was the 269th overall pick.

"That's No. 269 out of about 750,000 kids that were out there," said Allen Wilson, who scouts for the Mets and coaches the South Rowan American Legion team. "I know how much the Mets like him and I know 29 other teams had him on their draft board somewhere."

Wilson recommended Parnell, despite his 3-5 record and 8.86 ERA. Parnell struck out 45 batters, while walking 29. He uncorked 13 wild pitches and plunked nine batters. The scariest stat of all might be that opposing hitters batted a robust .330 against the right-hander.

Those aren't typical draft-pick numbers, but Wilson insisted all that alarming arithmetic isn't a big deal.

"Kids can't control the team they play for," Wilson said. "Besides, no big-league team drafts stats. They draft potential, and Bobby's potential is incredible."

Bottom line?

"The Mets wouldn't be drafting him if they didn't believe he could play in the major leagues," Wilson said.

It's just a matter of everything coming together for Parnell, and the Mets believe they are the ones that can make it happen.

Parnell has several natural gifts. He has serious juice in his right arm, and he has the perfect pitcher's body. He's long, lean and loose, and he has a textbook arm-swing that unleashes fastballs that travel in excess of 90 miles an hour.

"Bobby has some things you can't teach," agreed Jim Gantt, who coached Parnell when he played for the Rowan County American Legion team. "You can't teach a kid to be tall and to throw hard."

Parnell seldom pitched at East Rowan, where he was mostly a gold-glove, rocket-armed third baseman.

He also didn't throw much for the Rowan Legion, where he was a .300-hitting first baseman for the 2002 state champions.

"Bobby pitched almost none at East, just about none for Rowan," said Wilson, who has known Parnell since the prospect was 10 years old.

"But he's always kept working. He's never given up. He got a college scholarship, and now he's a draft pick."

Gantt wasn't shocked at all that Parnell's name was called.

"The thing I always liked about Bobby is that he was always the first one at the ballpark," he said. "I'd be out there mowing grass, and I'd see him come in and I'd know it was about an hour before the team was supposed to be there.

"He always wanted to be good. Every day, he wanted to be good. You talk about desire, well, he has it. He always had it."

Parnell, who has a good slider as well as a blinding fastball, has the option of returning to Charleston Southern for his senior year, but there's a pretty good chance that he'll sign.

He would have zero bargaining power next June, but if he signs now, he can expect a substantial bonus.

The 269th pick in the draft last year was UCLA third baseman Ryan McCarthy. He signed with the Chicago White Sox for $70,000.

If Parnell does become a Met, he would most likely be assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones of the short-season New York-Penn League.

Whatever his stats are in Brooklyn, the Mets won't be overly concerned.

They're looking at the big picture.

"I see Bobby and I see long arms and a skinny body that's gonna fill out," Wilson said. "A lot of people in the Mets organization believe in him."

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