A .275 batting average may not strike fear into opposing pitching staffs but for Bearcat sophomore Parker Smith, if you look at the big picture, you have to be impressed.
After recording one of the five Bearcat hits in the season opener at Class 6A Fort Smith Northside on February 26, Smith went five games without a hit, which ran into spring break, which made it a calendar month before Smith and the Bearcats took the field at Hackett.
At that point Smith was hitting .062. A two hit game in Hackett got rid of the leading zero and a pair of hits against Pottsville on April 1 pushed the average over the famed Mendoza line.
“Parker is a great young man on and off the field,” said head coach Arron Kimes. “He has gotten better every game and will continue to improve over the next few years.”
While the average did once dip back under .200 it has continued to climb since then and it was on the recent swing through north Logan County that Smith pushed the average to over .250 with two hits in Paris, and to the current .275 with two more in Subiaco.
The Paris game clinched a share of a conference title and the Subiaco game completed an unblemished conference slate.
“Mainly it’s just seeing the ball better. I’ve been picking up spin a lot easier, and getting more BP in,” Smith said of the surging batting average.
Among the hits that has propelled the average was a first career home run in Prairie Grove last Thursday. Smith says he was not swinging for the fence.
“It was pretty crazy because I didn’t think I would get to that point this fast,” he said.
Besides the average, the on base percentage has also jumped, and to an even greater extent for the seventh hitting Smith.
When the batting average was two digits, so too was the on base percentage. Today, the on base percentage is up to .420.
That’s because Smith’s nine walks is tied for second on the team and he has been hit by a pitch four times.
With two runs batted in on Tuesday, Smith now has 10, becoming the seventh Bearcat with a double figure RBI total.
Smith also has the second most doubles with three and he is one of eight different players who have been called upon to put down a sacrifice bunt.
Smith arrived on campus two years ago when his family relocated from southern California. There, he says, he played all over the field.
“I like it a little better out here,” Smith said of the move to the much less densely populated southern Logan County.
For the Bearcats, Smith can primarily be found in right field but he has spent time behind the plate and has drawn one pitching assignment.
He has a .957 fielding percentage and has committed just a single error.
One of three different catchers who has thrown out would-be base stealers – two of them – Smith has been involved in throwing out 34.48 percent of those attempting to steal this season.
That is the best percentage during Kimes’ tenure as head coach and the number of attempts is on pace to be the fewest attempts during his time as well.
Smith’s school day includes geometry, English, Spanish I, band, history and honors biology, besides athletics.
As a band member – he plays the tenor sax – and because he was on the football team Smith is one of five to already possess two state championship rings.
None of the others play baseball so he is the only one capable of a hat trick.
In addition to baseball, football, and band, Smith also runs track and shoots trap for the Bearcats.
The only game Smith did not start this season was the day of Bearcat Relays.
He will likely miss a second game for the district track meet this week while running the 800-meters, 4x800-meter relay, and possibly the 4x400-meter relay.
“You’ve just got to get good sleep. You’ve got to stay focused in school all year and get your work done. Stay on top of things and take every opportunity you can (to rest),” said Smith.
Smith is the son of Tosha Smith, who works in the elementary school library, and his father, Jarrod is a land surveyor.
