With spring training underway, Mets reliever Bobby Parnell took a swing at a Q&A session with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: How has your mound presence improved?
A: If you put your head down and [don’t] pitch well and you show it on the mound, hitters are gonna get pumped up for that. If you say, “Let’s go, I’m ready for you,” hitters are gonna go, “Oh, wait a minute.”
Q: Do you want to be perceived as an intimidator?
A: I guess it would be beneficial to be perceived as an intimidator. But I want to appear confident. Like, “I’m ready to go.” I don’t want to stare somebody down and then cower. I want the hitter to know I’m ready. Even though the last guy got a hit, this guy’s coming after me.
Q: It’s all about body language?
A: You really can’t talk to the hitter. I want them to be able to read my body language — “He’s gonna come right after me.”
Q: Maybe your new beard will change how you are perceived?
A: I’ve been getting compliments on it. I think I’m gonna keep it. … Ike (Davis) said I was boring to look at. He was excited to see the beard on me (chuckle).
Q: Do you feel you have the perfect temperament to be a closer?
A: I don’t know. I’d like to be able to give you a confirmed answer. I enjoy closing baseball games. I feel like I’m pretty even-keel, don’t get upset about anything. I don’t know if it comes with my Fire Department background. I try not to let it faze me either way.
Q: Is there an adrenaline rush as closer?
A: There’s definitely an adrenaline rush. If I can do well, it boosts the team up. I feel if you’re performing well as a closer, we’re gonna win more ballgames and they feel confident in you. I want to be a key part of the team. I want to be part of a winning team.
Q: How much of a weapon will your knuckle curve be?
A: I think it helped me a lot last year. I think it’s gonna continue to help me. The curveball has helped get hitters off my fastball and made my fastball better.
Q: What do you weigh?
A: 198-200.
Q: How do you explain being able to throw a 100 mph fastball?
A: Long and lanky (laugh).
Q: Do you remember the first time you threw 100?
A: We played in Boston in ’09. Somebody said, “Did you see it?” I said, “See what?” He said, “The radar gun. You hit 100.” I’m like, “That’s kinda cool.” I was just going out there doing my job.
Q: Do you remember who the hitter was?
A: No.
Q: When did the knuckle curve begin for you?
A: I asked Jason Isringhausen, who is now the pitching coach at Southern Illinois University, “How do you throw this thing?” I guess that was two years ago in September. I said, “I gotta figure something out.” My slider was just as hard as my fastball. He taught me.
Q: Where is your confidence level now?
A: It’s high. The book on me was always hard. Hitters are gonna get something to hit, they just gotta be early on it. Now they have to sit back and be patient and read the pitch.
Q: What is it like pitching in New York?
A: I like it. I’ve grown accustomed to it. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. Days we win, the fans are no greater. They’re gonna let you know if you lose, and that’s just part of New York.
Q: Playing in Brooklyn for the Cyclones eight years ago?
A: It was different. I went from Salisbury, N.C., to Charleston, S.C., to Brooklyn, New York … slow town to slow town to “Ohmygosh, where’d all these people come from?” It was definitely an eye-opener. The atmosphere at Brooklyn is second to none.
Q: Did you go on the Cyclone roller coaster?
A: I never went. I regret it to this day.
Q: Nathan’s hot dogs?
A: I thought they were good.
Q: Describe Mets fans.
A: Passionate.
Q: What is manager Terry Collins like?
A: Devoted … determined … go-getter. He’s a leader. He’s gonna tell you what he thinks and wants to win every ballgame. He’s a great guy to play for.
Q: Who was your boyhood idol?
A: I always idolized Roger Clemens as a pitcher. I’ve met him, I played with his son Koby in Hawaii. He hung out with us like he’s a normal person.
Q: You played third base and first base in high school?
A: I was a doubles, triples guy. Used my legs (chuckle).
Q: You weren’t seriously considering a baseball career?
A: I wanted to be a firefighter. I never really counted on baseball working out. But I loved playing it.
Q: What was the baseball turning point for you?
A: I was playing summer ball in AAU and I was playing third and first. We went on a trip down to Charleston, S.C., and we didn’t have enough pitchers to pitch that game.
Q: So you had to pitch?
A: I was just throwing hard off the mound. Gary Murphy, the head coach of Charleston Southern, offered me a scholarship that day. He was up in the press box. It was the only Division I [school] that offered me anything.
Q: Why did you want to be a firefighter?
A: I grew up in the Fire Department. My dad was a firefighter, his dad was a firefighter, and any chance I got, I’d go to the [Salisbury, N.C.] Fire Department and hang out.
Q: Did you dad tell you about the most dangerous situations he had to face?
A: That kind of stuff he leaves at the Fire Department. I’m sure he’s been in some hair-raising situations. I don’t think he’d come home and brag to me and my brother and my mother.
Q: Were you ever in a dangerous situation?
A: No. I was a volunteer in high school, but you’re so young, it’s really just training. I’ve never been in anything like that.
Q: Would you consider being a firefighter after baseball is over?
A: I would. … I’d probably be too old, hopefully, if baseball works out. You gotta be young and agile to be a firefighter and a baseball player.
Q: Your father is the Fire Chief in Salisbury now. Did he ever talk about the most rewarding days he had as a firefighter?
A: No, not really. He’s been in the Fire Department 30, 40 years. He’s seen some stuff he probably doesn’t want to remember.
Q: He’s never talked about saving lives?
A: You know he has. He’s gone into burning buildings, into wrecks. … I’m sure one day I’ll be able to sit down with him and ask him. I never asked him.
Q: What were you thinking when you watched the firefighters on 9/11?
A: I was glued to the TV. I remember watching the firefighters as they were doing their job thinking, “Wow. I don’t know how many stories they’re running up the stairs from Floor 1. They’re on a mission to save lives and get people out of there.” It makes you proud you’re even part of a Fire Department. And people around you are committed, and they would do the same thing for anybody.
Q: Firefighters are … unsung?
A: Unsung I think is a good word. When they join that Fire Department, they’re committed to saving lives. If it means putting theirs on the line, they’re gonna do it.
Q: The pressure a baseball closer faces pales by comparison.
A: Oh yeah, absolutely. We’re not playing a game with lives. We’re playing a game with a baseball.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Abraham Lincoln; Blackbeard; George W. Bush.
Q: You’re the first one that has ever invited Blackbeard to dinner.
A: He’s the pirate that stole everything. It’s big in North Carolina, that’s where all the pirates hid out. Just a bunch of pirate ships and regular ships sunken off the coast of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I’ve always been intrigued by a pirate’s life. You hear how they sailed and stole. … I’d like to hear his side of things. He was frowned upon ’cause he stole and pillaged and did all the bad things people weren’t supposed to do back then.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Shooter.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Liam Neeson.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Sandra Bullock.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Blake Shelton.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Pizza … with anything but anchovies.
Q: A message for Mets fans.
A: We’re gonna play our butts off. We’re not gonna win every baseball game. We’re gonna try.
Q: The playoffs are not an unrealistic goal?
A: It never is. It’s the game of baseball … anything can happen.
Q: What kind of closer will Mets fans have?
A They’re gonna have a determined one.
Q: Will this be a career year for you?
A: Yes. I believe it.