As a high school senior pitcher in Louisiana, Clay Parker was throwing 92 mph fastballs. It was enough to get him to LSU on a baseball scholarship and later to the big leagues.
It was only as a 27-year-old major-leaguer that elbow and shoulder problems began to simmer.
He got by for another two years on mechanics, but what should have been the prime of his career was cut short. After five seasons with the Yankees, Mariners and Tigers he was a 29-year-old out of the big leagues.
In reflection Parker feels overuse in high school led to the early end of his career. It is that experience, though, that has Boyd-Buchanan primed to make a run at the Tennessee Class A baseball championship.
“Some coaches may think I’m overprotective but I got worn out as a senior high school and then having career-ending surgery in what should have been the prime of my career gives me a deep understanding of what goes on with a pitcher and his arm,” Parker said.