SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Throughout his career, both in college and in his relatively brief pro career, Parks Harber has been the epitome of “sneaky good.” If he keeps swinging the bat like he has in the Arizona Fall League, he’ll have to lose the first word of that moniker.
“I always have a little chip on my shoulder but you need to continuously put yourself in good positions,” Harber said. “That comes from a lot of hard work and trying to take it day-by-day and at-bat-by-at-bat. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve definitely matured in that aspect.”
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Through 12 games, the Giants prospect’s day-by-day has looked extremely good. The 24-year old finds himself in the top five in all three slash categories (.400/.547/.775) to go along with three homers and 10 RBIs for Scottsdale. He picked up another two hits on Thursday night, including his sixth double, which gave him a share of the Arizona Fall League lead.
“I was able to finish kind of strong at the end of the regular season,” Harber said. “I got humbled here on Opening Day and realized I had to make some adjustments quick. But that excites me, getting some challenging pitching, some really good arms and then I’ve settled in nicely.”
Harber went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts in that opener. Since then, he’s gone 16-for-36 (.444) and is carrying an active five-game hitting streak, four of which were of the multihit variety. Once he realized what the arms would be like out here, he’s shown he belongs.
“Just being able to handle velocity,” Harber said about his biggest adjustment. “Everybody is throwing 97-98 [mph], so you have to be able to handle that and make swing decisions, put yourself in good counts.”
None of this is new for the right-handed hitter. He spent three years at Georgia, smashing 18 homers with a .917 OPS in his junior season. After not being drafted in 2023, he transferred to North Carolina for his senior year, which led to even better numbers across the board: .343/.425/.648 with 20 home runs. Despite the big season, his name was not called in the 2024 Draft and he signed with the Yankees for $50,000 as a nondrafted free agent.
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“I get asked about [not getting drafted] a lot,” Harber said. “I didn’t deserve to get drafted. If I didn’t get drafted, they didn’t feel I did enough to get drafted. I didn’t put myself in a place to be a no-brainer pick. For me, that was just more motivation to get better. I didn’t take it as a slight or anything. I took it as an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, these teams didn’t think you were good enough so what can I do to put myself on the map?’ It was exciting, it was a challenge. I like competition.”
When he’s been on the field, he’s continued to compete at a very high level. He had a .914 OPS between Single-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley when a wrist issue sidelined him. He was on the injured list when he was sent to the Giants as part of the Camilo Doval deal at the Trade Deadline.
“It was funny,” he recounted. “I was actually going to play. My first game was going to be like two days later, and then I got traded and headed out here, then headed to [High-A] Eugene. It was crazy, but it was fun. I think it’s why you play a game like this. You play because you love baseball and when stuff like that happens, it’s exciting and you’re grateful for all the opportunities given to you.”
Returning to action in early August, he hit .333 with an OPS north of 1.000 over 25 games for High-A Eugene. Combined, he finished with a 173 wRC+ over 343 total plate appearances, ranking second only to Kevin McGonigle (DET No. 1/MLB No. 2), who happens to be Harber’s teammate on the Scorpions. Harber capped things off by going 7-for-15 in the Northwest League Championship Series. So he couldn’t wait to keep swinging the bat this fall.
“When I was told I was coming out here, I was really excited, really grateful for the opportunity,” Harber said. “Everyone I talked to who had been out here previously loved it. The competition is what I need. I need to continue to challenge myself. This was perfect for me.”