JEFFRY PARRA SIGNS WITH TAMPA BAY RAYS
The Québec Capitales are pleased to announce that after an exceptional season in 2022, catcher Jeffry Parra has just signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Rays organization. The Florida team has signed the star catcher to a contract and will continue his professional career in Major League Baseball's affiliates.
Now 25 years old, the Dominican was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2016 in the 24th round out of Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, New Jeresy. After 4 seasons in the minors at the Rookie and A levels, he left the organization at the end of the 2019 season. Parra then began his adventure in Québec City in 2021, in an Équipe Québec uniform, for his first season in the Frontier League. Immediately designated as the team's trusted catcher, he also quickly became a feared hitter.
The 2022 season was the consecration for Jeffry Parra in the uniform of Capitales. When he took his place behind the plate, runners usually did not dare to challenge him on the basepaths. Those who did so more often than not realized all the precision and power that his right arm could hide. And when he arrived at the plate with a bat in his hands, opposing pitchers knew they had to be at their best to avoid damage.
Parra broke the team's home run record, propelling the ball 32 times across the fence, with the old record of 31 held by Eddie Lantigua since 2005. With a .321 batting average and a .714 slugging percentage (the highest in the league), Parra also drove in 83 runs. Defensively, he retired 32 runners on attempted steals, the best performance in the league, while committing only one defensive error all season. With such statistics, it would have been very surprising if Parra wasn't noticed by a Major League Baseball organization for the summer of 2023.
Patrick Scalabrini, team manager, agrees: "We are really very happy for him. With the two seasons Jeffry just had with us, and especially the last one, he deserved more than his place. And I'm really excited to see what he can do if he's given the opportunity with Tampa Bay."
The Québec Capitales of course hope that Jeffry can find his rightful place in the Rays organization, and want to thank him for all the good times he has provided to fans during the last two summers at Stade Canac. He will have clearly left his mark in the great book of the history of the Capitales.
