GV grad knocks three doubles to lead Royals past Las Vegas 51s

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Sunday, May 16, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

Playing a few games in his native Southern Nevada might be what Jordan Parraz needs to jump-start his first full baseball season in Triple-A.

After all, he had more hits in the first four innings Saturday night in his initial game back in the Las Vegas Valley than he did his first 38 at bats this season.

Parraz, who helped Green Valley High win a pair of state championships and excelled during one season at the College of Southern Nevada, returned to the area with the Omaha (Neb.) Royals for a four-game series at Cashman Field against the Las Vegas 51s.

The Henderson native didn’t disappoint a small group of family and friends in attendance.

He had arguably his best performance of the season, recording hits in three straight innings to finish 4-for-6 with three runs, three doubles and two RBIs in a 15-1 Omaha victory.

He doubled to start Omaha’s four-run second inning and scored the game’s first run. In the third and sixth innings, he knocked in run-scoring doubles. In the fourth inning, he singled and scored.

The performance was exactly what the doctor ordered for a batter who only had two hits in 38 at-bats to open the season.

“My approach was off, my timing was off,” he said of the slump.

Parraz, a 25-year-old outfielder, has struggled this spring adjusting offensively with Omaha, the top affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Parraz is part of Kansas City’s 40-man roster and entered the year with hopes of a September promotion to the big leagues.

While a late-season call-up is still a possibility, Parraz knows it won’t happen unless he becomes more consistent at the plate. The breakout performance Saturday upped his average from .191 to .216 to go along with two home runs and 13 RBIs in 31 games.

He’s been working to find his identity at the plate — with Saturday’s showing surely a step in the right direction.

“I’m trying to find a swing that will work for years instead of grinding it out,” Parraz said. “It is just finding consistency in everything you do. That is what those guys do up there (in the big leagues).”

Parraz, a third-round pick of the Houston Astros in 2004 out of CSN, was traded to the Royals after the 2008 season. He calls the trade one of the best things to happen in his career.

He was lost in a shuffle of prospects in the Astros organization, only reaching high-A ball in five seasons.

That hasn’t been the case with the Royals. Last year, his first in the organization, he spent most of the season in Double-A before being promoted to Triple-A toward the end of the season in his most productive professional campaign.

He batted .358 with seven home runs and 42 RBIs for Kansas City’s Double-A affiliate in Northwest Arkansas. He was promoted to Omaha for the final two months of the season but was limited to 13 games (he still batted .298) with hamstring issues.

He feels the Royals have a high opinion of him — so high, they are willing to be patient with the early season struggles.

“He’s a good kid. He plays hard,” Omaha manager Mike Jirschele said. "He needs to learn how to play the game right way.”

His dominating efforts Saturday resembled the performances during his high school years. He teamed with his older brother, Zeke, to lead Green Valley to the 2001 state championship. As a senior in 2003, he shined in leading the Gators to their eighth state crown in 11 years.

Parraz also pitched for Green Valley and was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth round of the 2003 draft as a pitcher. He opted to play at CSN with aspirations to be an everyday field player.

It proved to be the right decision. Some baseball insider publications call him the Royals’ right-fielder of the future.

But before those predictions become a reality, he has to continue improving offensively.

“When (big league pitchers) find your weakness, they go right at it,” Jirschele said. “They pound your weaknesses.”