By Billy Watkins
Mississippi seems to be producing current and future Major League baseball players faster than we can keep up with them.
The next two up are fraternal twins JoJo and Jacob Parker of Purvis. Both are committed to Mississippi State. Word is that JoJo, a shortstop, is expected to be a Top 10 selection in Sunday’s Major League draft. Jacob, a centerfielder, should hear his name called in the second or third round.
All that could change. The MLB’s draft may be the most unpredictable of all sports.
But check out what Kevin Griffin — dad of Konnor Griffin, the Jackson Prep product who was the No. 9 player taken in last year’s draft by Pittsburgh — had to say about the Parker twins: “I think they’re the two best high school players in this draft. I know guys are ranked ahead of them, but I’ve seen just about every (high school) prospect in the country the past two or three years.”
The twins and Konnor Griffin are close friends. They played two seasons together starting at age 14 with the Louisiana-based Knights Knation, one of the most respected travel team organizations in America.
“They loved playing together,” said Kevin Griffin, the successful softball coach at Belhaven University. “They seemed to all feed off one another. In the off-season, Konnor would go down to Purvis and work out with them. They would come up to see Konnor and I’d throw batting practice to them. They are really close-knit, and it’s pretty neat to see three guys like that pull so hard for one other.”
Jop and Mechelle Parker have preached to their sons for years that baseball is not their identity, that they are not defined by what happens in a batter’s box.
“No, their identity is in Christ,” Jop said. “That’s the foundation we’ve tried to lay.”
Jop is a lesson for everyone, especially his sons who have only known him as a loving dad whose legs are a wheelchair.
************
Jop has never watched film of the football play that paralyzed him during his junior year of high school. From what he’s been told, he didn’t lower his head. It was simply a violent collision that broke the C4, C5 and C6 vertebrae. Two lodged in his spinal cord.
He refused to allow the injury to dictate his quality of life.
He graduated from Purvis High School on time (1999). Earned an undergraduate degree from Southern Mississippi and then graduated from law school at Ole Miss.
He was introduced to Mechelle by mutual friends. They married in 2004. He helped form a law firm. He now serves as the Lamar County Court Judge.
I asked him how he attacked such a challenge.
“My faith in Christ,” he said. “and understanding that I’m not in control of my present or future. I’ve always taken a stance that there will be obstacles in one’s life. You can choose to overcome it or allow that obstacle to prevent you from moving forward. I chose to navigate my life as if there is no wheelchair. I’ve also had family and friends who have never treated me like I was in a chair.”
“I think both the boys know how much Jop missed out on himself as a player because of his accident,” Kevin Griffin said. “Those boys work hard and live every day as if it were their last chance to compete.
“It seems cliche to tell most athletes to play a game as if it were their last, but they have living proof that good health isn’t guaranteed tomorrow. I believe it has 100 percent motivated them to make their dad proud.”
***************
When JoJo and Jacob turned seven, Jop and other dads in Purvis formed a travel team.
“We wanted our boys to compete with the best out there,” he said. “I got some crazy looks when I informed the parents that we would be traveling to play in places like Houston, Texas and Orlando and Lake Charles, La. But I think it forged a mentality in those boys that they could compete and be really good baseball players.”
Jop knew his sons were talented, but there was a “this is for real” moment in the summer of 2021.
“Between their eighth and ninth grade year, we were playing in North Carolina and they got a call from (then State coach Chris) Lemonis, who was in Omaha,” Jop says. “That was the year State won the national championship. He had a lot going on, but he took the time to call two 14-year-olds. That was an eye-opener for all of us.”
The twins, a month shy of their 19th birthday, “have really treated baseball like a job the last couple of years,” Jop said. “But don’t get me wrong, they love the sport and they’re willing to put the time in.”
Both started at Purvis High in the eighth grade. The scouts first noticed Jacob, who stands 6-3 1/2, 215 pounds.
“He was bigger than JoJo and he hit the ball so hard,” said Purvis coach Tony Farlow, who is retiring after compiling a 712-362 record and and four state championships over 37 seasons. “I don’t remember Jacob ever missing a ball in the outfield. Scouts have seen him run down balls in the gap, then throw a runner out trying to reach third base.
“And now … it’s almost dangerous to be on the infield when he hits the ball.”
JoJo hit a growth spurt the last couple of years, now standing 6-2, 200.
“He’s really bulked up,” Kevin Griffin said. “He went from being a gap to gap hitter to a home run threat. He’s added the power that scouts love. And he’s such a versatile player, he can play anywhere on the infield. I’ve even seen him at catcher. I think that versatility is one of the reasons he’s projected so high.”
Their list of awards seems never-ending. Among them: They shared the MaxPreps and Perfect Game Player of the Year honors. They were among 200 prospects who recently participated in the MLB Combine in Arizona.
As a senior, Jacob batted .525 with 17 homers, 39 stolen bases and 53 hits in 36 games. During his career, he had 205 hits, 42 homers and 47 doubles. He also served as the team’s closer on the mound.
JoJo batted .489 as a senior with 13 homers, 70 runs scored and 37 stolen bases. In his career, he finished with 203 hits and 40 home runs. He was Purvis’ pitching ace as a senior with an 8-2 record and 99 strikeouts in 62.2 innings.
Purvis lost this year’s Class 4A state championship game to West Lauderdale, 3-2. When recently asked about it, Jacob showed how the twins’ have shaped their mental outlook.
“I think we are so good because we know how to fail,” Jacob told Andrew Abadie of The Pine Belt News in Hattiesburg. “Baseball is a game of failure, and once you accept that, you just instantly become better. It’s a mind game. So as soon as you can, move on from your failure and start focusing on success. That’s the only way to be successful in baseball.”
*************
JoJo and Jacob got away from all the attention and expectations this week. They went on a fishing trip to the Gulf Coast with friends and relatives.
I asked Jop what he had heard lately from the teams or scouts.
“Not one thing since we left the combine,” he said.
Kevin Griffin is certain that will change Friday and Saturday before the draft starts Sunday.
“It’ll be like when they release the horses out of the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby,” Griffin said. “Teams will be calling, and it will be the general managers. It’s all business then. They’re trying to find out how much money it will take to sign them.”
The twins and their family recently met with new Mississippi State coach Brian O’Connor.
“Mississippi State is still 100 percent in play, and so is signing a professional contract,” Jop said. “My wife and I, along with our inner circle, will advise our boys. But in the end, it’ll be their decisions.”
###############
