March 26, 2025 • 34 mins
Parker Byrd's journey from star high school shortstop to amputee baseball player at East Carolina University defies all conventional expectations. After committing to ECU as a freshman, his life took a devastating turn during a summer boating trip with teammates before his first college season. Caught beneath a boat's propeller, Parker suffered catastrophic injuries requiring 22 surgeries in 56 days and ultimately, the amputation of his right leg below the knee.
Most would assume a Division I baseball career was no longer possible. But when Parker expressed this fear to his mother in the hospital, her response changed everything: "There always has to be a first, why not you?" Those words sparked a transformation in Parker's mindset that fueled an extraordinary comeback.
The rehabilitation process revealed Parker's remarkable determination. Starting in a wheelchair doing visualization exercises, he progressed to performing one-handed drills while seated on a shower stool, then working with crutches, before finally receiving a proper running prosthetic with a split-foot design. With his hitting coach, Parker redeveloped his swing mechanics, discovering that a "scissor motion" technique could generate power without his natural ankle push-off.
What makes this story particularly powerful is the unwavering support from ECU head coach Cliff Godwin, who was the first person at the hospital after Parker's accident. In an era where the transfer portal offers easy replacements for injured players, Godwin's commitment to Parker transcended baseball. This loyalty, combined with Parker's faith and family support, created the foundation for his return to competitive play.
Parker made his collegiate debut on February 16, 2024, receiving a thunderous ovation from Pirate Nation that he describes as "louder than I've ever heard." Beyond the baseball achievement, Parker has embraced a greater purpose in inspiring others facing seemingly impossible challenges. His message is profoundly simple yet powerful: "Embrace adversity, love your neighbor, and trust in God's plan because He's going to lead you to something better."
Listen now to this extraordinary conversation about resilience, faith, and redefining what's possible when determination meets unwavering support. Parker Bird isn't just playing baseball with a prosthetic leg—he's showing us all how to transform life's greatest challenges into our most powerful purpose.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Imagine what it takes to makean elite Division I baseball
program as a freshman Transferportal.
Average age of player is nearly21 years old and the coach is
expecting production the minuteyou step on campus.
Now imagine trying to play withyour right leg amputated below
(00:24):
your knee.
Trying to play with your rightleg amputated below your knee.
East Carolina Universityinfielder Parker Bird suffered a
near-fatal accident whileboating with teammates the
summer before his freshmanseason.
After 20-plus surgeries, parkerdid what most would think is
impossible, thanks to his family, coach Cliff Godwin and
(00:44):
teammates.
Thanks to his family, coachCliff Godwin and teammates the
power of belief and theincredible determination.
Next on Baseball Coaches.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Unplugged.
Welcome to Baseball CoachesUnplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented byAthleteOne.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is apodcast for baseball coaches
With 27 years of high schoolbaseball coaching under his belt
, here to bring you the insidescoop on all things baseball,
from game-winning strategies andpitching secrets to hitting
drills and defensive drills.
(01:12):
We're covering it all.
Whether you're a high schoolcoach, college coach or just a
baseball enthusiast, we'll diveinto the tactics and techniques
that make the difference on andoff the field.
Discover how to build a winningmentality, inspire your players
(01:48):
and get them truly bought.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
We'll be right back your competitive edge starts
here, so check out the showweekly and hear from the best
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It helps us to grow the show.
Now to my episode with EastCarolina University infielder
Parker Bird.
Hello and welcome to BaseballCoaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and I'm excited to
have jumping on the show with metoday.
Parker Bird, east CarolinaUniversity, infielder Parker,
(03:45):
thanks for taking the time tojoin me on Baseball Coaches
Unplugged.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
It's an honor, man.
I appreciate you having me onhere.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
For those people out there that don't know your story
, which I'm sure just abouteverybody should you were in a
serious boating accident and hadto have your leg amputated
accident and had to have yourleg amputated.
But what I wanted to start offwith was February 16th 2024.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I'm sure that day is pretty special.
Tell me about that day.
Yeah, it was a cool day, forsure.
Yeah, so that was last year ofthe.
We were playing a rider Fridaynight, obviously, and that was
my first collegiate game backfrom my accident and coach
Godwin told me whenever we werelike stretching, hey, we had
(04:40):
comfortable leads, hey, be readyto go in.
So I was like all right, soundsgood.
Well, we scored, like ready togo in.
So I was like all right, soundsgood.
Well, we scored like seven runsin the first inning.
I was like, oh, today's the day, god's letting it happen.
Quick.
Well, offense kind of spelledout for a couple of innings and
then they scored a little bit.
(05:00):
So it was like a 7-4 game or7-3, something crazy.
But then we just startedscoring again and then I got in
the bat and it was really cool.
I mean, you got thestabilization, but just a lot of
hard work, that's you know,went into that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Getting back into uh this I can imagine, you know it
it's.
It's crazy enough to get yourfirst AB at the Division I level
but you know, walking up therewith everything that you've been
through and you know a stadiumand everybody there just going
crazy for you, I bet you theemotions were just going 100
(05:40):
miles an hour and I can't evenimagine it.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, it was a really cool time because Pirate Nation
here in Great World they'revery passionate about their
sports, especially baseball, soI mean they're loud in general,
but that day was even more loudthan I've ever heard.
It wasn't even packed out likeit typically is.
It was kind of a colder Fridaynight.
(06:05):
We were winning big, so a lotof people had already left, but
the place got louder than I'veheard.
Honestly, it was reallyemotional.
But you know my competitivenature.
I had to walk back into thegame and obviously try and get a
hit, so I just took a moment inand just took a deep breath and
(06:26):
got back into the box.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, coming out of high school you were one of the
top players in the state ofNorth Carolina and you know from
my research it was like youwere automatic.
As soon as you got offered togo to ECU, you were like that's
where I'm going, yeah, but ifyou don't mind, could you take
me back to the day of theboating accident and how that
(06:53):
all went?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
down, yeah, yeah.
So I committed to East Carolinamy ninth grade year.
Both of my parents went to ECU.
So I grew up being a Pirate fanand I was going through the
recruiting process pretty early.
I think I went to some campsgoing into my ninth grade year
summer so around August or soand I went to three camps.
(07:17):
First weekend I went to Duke.
I had a great time, lovedeverything there.
It was a really cool camp.
Then the second one, I went toEast Carolina and I was kind of
already biased because of myparents and growing up being a
Pirate fan, but I was.
You know the recruiting process, you have to have an open mind
about everything.
So I came to camp here and youknow everything I ever thought
(07:41):
it was going to be.
That's what it was and I lovedit, loved the coaching staff,
loved the field.
I already knew the fans werephenomenal, so I really loved
everything about it.
And the third weekend I wentwith Coach Carolina and after
that camp that was the firsttime I talked to Coach Collin
and Coach Blumbo.
Then we kept in contact andCoach Blumbo and coach g both
(08:04):
kind of followed me throughouttravel ball the next couple
months and they offered me innovember and I committed around
spike.
That's where I wanted to go, um, and then end up having a
pretty successful high schoolcareer.
Um, then I had to come to eastcarolina in 2022 for summer
(08:25):
school after I graduated highschool, and it was just all the
incoming freshmen and a coupleof transfers and basically they
bring us here in the summertimejust to get activated to, you
know, a new environment, howcollege is, finally getting away
from your parents for the firsttime.
So it was just me and my newincoming teammates and we're
(08:48):
having a great time.
We, you know, started inprobably mid-june and was
planning to leave late july andwe were here for probably four
weeks already and we got a newrecruit and he was like hey, he
told us his name.
He's like hey, my family has ariver house probably 30 minutes
from here.
We should all go down sometime.
Then, you know, just have agood time.
(09:09):
And Greenville is a great townbut it's pretty boring in the
summertime because it's such acollege town.
So we're like all right, soundsgood.
And the fact that he was just alate recruit was kind of weird
in itself because a lot ofpeople had committed pretty
early on like myself.
So he came in, told us that,well, all right, sounds good,
(09:31):
we'll go sometime.
And so it was last week in thesummer that we were here, that
everybody was still here.
He kept on asking all right,sounds good, man, we'll go down,
he's had such a great time andwe'll go have fun.
Friday, after our more than 300of our workouts and all that
good stuff, we went down to backNorth Carolina where the
(09:54):
Riverhouse was, and honestly,everything was great.
It lived up to the potentialand the hype that the guy was
talking about and we had a greattime.
Well, that Saturday morning Iwas supposed to take one of the
guys.
His name is Miles Curley.
So I was supposed to take Milesback to a home in Greenville
because he was supposed to helpan heirloom move some furniture.
Well, he got a call thatmorning saying hey, miles,
(10:16):
thanks for volunteering, but wedon't really need your help
anymore.
And so us.
You know, just being18-year-old at the time, I had
to have fun again.
So we went out.
We met a guy named Diggs on thetube first that day and the
first ride in Austin was really,really good.
We were on for probably about20, 25 minutes and we got back
(10:38):
going.
The driver was like, hey, I'mgoing to try to throw you guys
off a little bit quicker thistime.
You guys are all for a goodball.
So I'm going to throw you guysoff a little bit quicker this
time.
You guys are all for a goodball, so I'm going to go a
little bit crazier.
All right, sounds good.
Well, you know, I'm going to goa little bit crazier than we
thought.
Diggs ended up falling off thetube pretty quickly and I
followed shortly after him.
We both hit the water prettyhard so I had to get back to the
boat.
Got it done for right.
(11:00):
Now We'll let somebody else gogo and we're just gonna hang out
.
So we're swimming back to theboat and I was far ahead of from
where we had landed, uh, withthe boat, and as I got within 10
to 15 yards, I was using therope from the tube to help get
myself back in, and in themeantime the driver put the boat
in reverse, or got knocked intoreverse somehow, which
eventually led to me being stuckunder the boat.
(11:22):
The propeller hit both of mylegs and then I pushed off to my
left hand, which was also hit.
And then, from there.
Miles Curley, the guy I wassupposed to take back to be home
with Greenville, jumped inimmediately because he was from
Florida and had a friend die ina boating accident.
So he knew that getting me helpwas really urgent.
(11:42):
So he jumped in Him and Dixonhelped guide myself back on the
boat From there.
They were trying to turn it,get through it the best they
could with these shirts thatthey had.
In the meantime they were alsowaving down on the boats because
our boat wasn't able to movedue to the rope being caught in
the propeller.
They waved down on the boat.
The first boat stopped and theyaddressed the situation to him,
(12:06):
told him they needed help, andthe boat basically said sorry,
we can't really help, but wehave kids on the boat.
We don't really want to exposethem to the scene, but here's a
first aid kit and my friendswere like his legs were torn
from a Band-Aid at this point.
So the guys threw, threw thepicket and then continued to
wave down to the boats and thesecond boat stopped.
(12:28):
They addressed the situation tothem and they agreed to help.
So they transferred me over tothat boat and on that boat one
of the ladies was actually anurse, so she knew even more
what to do.
And the only reason they weregoing back in that day was
because it was two couples onthe boat.
One of them had got into anargument and they're like hey,
can you just take me back, we'redone for the day, we want to go
(12:51):
home.
So they're on the way back.
They saw us and they stoppedand then so they transported me
over to that boat and then theytook me to the marina where
there was an ambulance waitingon me which took me to a local
hospital where I had ahelicopter waiting on me to
airlift me to Eastview Healthhere in Greenville.
I stayed there for a total offour weeks and then I had a
(13:14):
total of 22 surgeries in 56 days.
So it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Wow, that's an amazing story and you know, it's
kind of crazy that you saidthat the first boat didn't want
to help.
You know, right, right, andluckily the next boat is someone
with a nurse and you know, it'samazing how those things come
together.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, no coincidence, man, everything was working out
for God's plan.
He just had his hand oneverything.
And it's just crazy.
I mean, if that person tried tohelp, maybe I wouldn't even be
here, because a lady tied hercircuit all the way, because she
knew how to, you know, tie itwith a rope.
(13:59):
Um, I maybe not even got to themarina where the ambulance was
waiting, you never know.
So it's really cool because youknow, in the meantime it's easy
for human nature to get mad atsomething that doesn't get your
way.
You know, not just accident,but that's just life.
(14:19):
You know, like, for instance,the other day I got my first
collegiate RBI and my dad wasn'tat the game the away game
midweek and he has to work so hewasn't there that day.
My first collegiate RBI and Iwas, I honestly got my first hit
.
It was honestly a middle,middle basketball, competitive
nature.
I just I had a stack fly but Iwas like, dang, I should get
(14:42):
that ball 400 feet.
But then Friday that was onWednesday, friday I got my first
collegiate hit and my dad wasthere.
So you know, in the meantime Iwas eating this thing.
Dang, I should have hit thatball, hit that ball that he's
working out for the better.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yes, definitely.
Well, when they made thedecision at the hospital to
amputate your leg below the knee, what led them to that decision
?
I mean, was it like we got todo this now?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Right, yeah, so my accident happened on July 23rd
of 2022, and I had my amputationon August 4th and, honestly,
the whole hospital said it'skind of a roller coaster for me
and my whole entire familybecause we got there and they
stopped the bleeding in my firstsurgery.
They didn't really know what totell my parents.
(15:36):
They're like, hey, we don'treally know, we just know that
your son's alive and thebleeding's not.
A couple surgeries later, theydidn't know where the static
nerve was and they filmed thatEverything's looking like it's
going well.
The doctors tell my parents hey, we think that he's going to be
able to keep both of his legs,everything's going like we hoped
(15:59):
it to and it looks like he willget back to playing baseball
with some extensive rehab.
Well, I think probably aroundsurgery eight or nine, they
realized that blood was goingdown to my foot but it wasn't
returning back up.
And that was just the initialshock of the body.
I was already clamping up andall that good stuff.
(16:21):
Well, it was going down to myfoot but it wasn't returning
back up, so basically, it wasdying slowly.
I just came into my room themorning of August 4th so I was
like hey, barker, you have twooptions we can continue this
medicine that we're having onnow, which isn't really working,
and infection can spread toyour kidneys and lungs and
(16:41):
basically you'll end up dying,is what they said.
Or option B we can just amputateyour right lower extremity.
And I was like, well, this isbigger than just a leg man, this
is not life.
So I obviously chose option Band amputated him.
But you know, obviously hechose option B and imitated him.
But you know, I just realizedthat life's bigger than baseball
.
At that point it's more aboutlife and obviously baseball is
(17:04):
on your brain, but essentially,you know, the life's bigger than
just baseball.
It's just more than that.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Well, this is where you had a conversation where you
know you're like anybody inthat situation is probably
thinking baseball, of all things, it's over.
But you kind of went into thewhy not me?
Why can't I see if I canovercome this right?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, yeah.
So my mom in the hospital.
I was staying, it's like due tothe hospital.
At that time COVID was stillkind of in effect.
I was in the ICU and only oneperson at a time could be in my
room, two people per day.
So my mom and dad wereswitching on and off.
(17:51):
As much as I love both of them,I kind of got tired of seeing
them.
I was wanting to see my sistersand all my friends and all that
good stuff.
My mom was saying we'd be inthe hospital Maybe the day after
my invitation, maybe two daysaround that time period.
She could tell I was kind ofdown.
(18:12):
She was like Parker, why areyou down?
I was like well, mom, I don'tknow if you know this or not,
but I don't think I'll be ableto play baseball again.
And she's like well, why do yousay that?
And I was like there's neverbeen a player that ever played a
prosthetic leg in college.
And she was like well, therealways has to be a first, why
not you?
And that's where things kind ofjust flipped in my brain to
(18:36):
where I was like you know what?
that's going to be a first foreverything, and now I have the
privilege to, you know, set thestandard for other kids out
there with prostate legs andshowing them that you know you
can do it.
There's still hope out there.
Even though adversity hits yourlife, you don't look the same
as everybody else.
(18:57):
It doesn't matter, because youwill, especially if you work
hard and there's some God in youthat will do what's possible.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yes, and you know, as a parent, my son was born with
severe club feet and the doctorstold us early on they said
baseball or any sports probablynot going to happen, right, and
we just attacked it likeanything's possible.
(19:27):
And you know attitude'severything.
And even as a young kid hereally changed his approach to
everything and ended up gettinga chance to play high school and
college baseball.
That's awesome.
But you know, in your situationeverybody thinks baseball is
over.
But you know you guys had adifferent mindset and you know
(19:54):
it leads to you playing forCoach Godwin at East Carolina
there.
And the reality with collegebaseball these guys are coaching
for their life.
It's their job, it's not like ahigh school coach.
And talk about Coach Godwin and, if you could, a little bit
(20:16):
about the coaching staff and theteam, how they responded to
your situation.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, yeah, and I'm so blessed to be here at East
Carolina because of the coachingstaff and honestly, that's why
everybody commits here.
Really it's because CoachGodwin, coach coach blumbo, aka
our pitching coach, everybody'sgoing to push you to.
You know your limit to get thebest out of you, you know, but
(20:45):
with also that they, they trustin you too and they believe in
you.
Um, and you know, after myaccident the first person at the
hospital was coach gollum.
I mean, he was all of ourrecruit, was on a visit, he was
with them.
My dad called him because myparents were back home in
Warrenburg, where I'm from, andthat's like two and a half hours
(21:06):
away from Greenville.
So they got in a call thatbasically said hey, you need to
get to Greenville fast, parker'sbeen in a boating accident and
he's dying.
That's basically what they got.
And so my dad wanted somebodyto be at the hospital when I got
there, even though I wouldn'tsee him, he just wanted, you
know, that validation.
(21:27):
So he called Coach Collin CoachCollin, let it ring out the
first time because he's arecruit or a visit with a
recruit, and my dad keepscalling him and finally, he's
like a recruit or a visit with arecruit and my dad keeps
calling him and finally he'slike coach gollins.
I held up one second, uh, andanswered phone to my dad.
My dad said, hey, coach gollin,um, I'm sorry to bother you,
but parker's been in a boatingaccident.
(21:49):
And, uh, we really could you goto the hospital?
And coach gollin immediatelysaid, yes, I'll be there.
So he told the recruit hey, II'm so sorry, but one of our
players has been in a boatingaccident.
I need to go to the hospital.
So he went to the hospital, wasthe very first person there at
the hospital and it just reallyshowed us how caring he is, how
(22:14):
much of a great person he is.
He's honestly changed so muchover the past three, four years.
The year before I got here, aguy named Zach Agnos' dad passed
away and Nico was a great humanbeing.
He was a phenomenal guy, a hugepart of the ECU community, and
(22:35):
he passed away unexpectedly dueto COVID.
That year really changed CoachCarver.
Then next year an accidenthappened.
He just realized how fast lifecan change.
He got right with his place andbecame such a better person.
Because of my accident, becauseof Nico's passing.
It's been really cool to seehim walk his faith.
(22:59):
But you know, just for himallowing me to have the
opportunity, a lot of people incollege baseball, especially in
today's world, would just, youknow, give up on a guy, go to a
transfer portal and try to getsome other shortstop.
But Coach Collin, coachBarbaugh, they were stuck in
that with me because I told themin the hospital, I was like,
hey, my goal is to come back.
(23:19):
I was like I'm going to playbaseball again.
He's like I believe in you,like you're going to do it.
And so the first year I kind oftook a gap year, just to you
know rehab, get my prostheticsand all that.
And then last year was my firstyear playing collegiate baseball
and obviously it was my firstyear playing collegiate baseball
.
Obviously, you gave me anopportunity to do this today, so
I'm so extremely thankful forall the coaching staff, all my
(23:41):
teammates, my teammates, for thehuge role in, you know the
recovery process, because a lotof rehab is mental.
I tell people all the time.
You know a lot of it isphysical, like there's a lot of
physical challenges, but that'sonly about 20% of it.
The rest of it's know themental, the mental capacity of
getting up every day trying toget better and really just
(24:04):
changing your perspective, andthey really allow me to find a
purpose.
And you know, it was reallyeasy to wake up those days where
you don't really want to go topt and then you see them out
there grinding, so it's easy togo to p, and then you see them
out there grinding, so it's easyto go to PT whenever you see
that.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, let me ask you this.
I mean, I'm sure there's peoplelistening to the podcast that
are saying, okay, how does heswing, how does he hit?
Because you're pushing off yourback leg and you know how do
you, you feel you're aninfielder and could you leg.
And you know how do you feelYou're an infielder and could
you kind of just you know, Iguess briefly, kind of go
(24:41):
through the progression a littlebit?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
100%.
Yeah.
So the progression man wasincredible.
I got out of the hospital andobviously, baseball was my mind
and let's get back into thecages, but I'm in a wheelchair
at this point and I got out onhis 20th.
Obviously, baseball is my mindand let's get back into the
cages, but I'm in a wheelchairat this point and I got out
(25:07):
August 20th of 2022.
I didn't receive my firstprosthetic until December of
that year.
Well, that prosthetic didn'tfit very well at all.
The Challenge AthletesFoundation, which is a
foundation that helps thedisadvantaged and your people
get back into the game of life,they provided me with my first
grant.
Bob Babbitt provided me with myfirst grant in March of 2023.
(25:29):
That was the first time I had aprostate that actually fit well
and I was actually fully weightbearing on it.
So there was a probably eightmonth period seven, eight month
period there that I didn'treally have a prosthetic at all
and I was kind of on crutches.
But in the meantime, you know,I'm trying to get back into
baseball and I can't take itseven, eight, but yeah, that's
(25:51):
just, and I held baseball roles.
It's the consistency of thegame.
Well, uh, so I got out of thehospital I was in a wheelchair
and I would just watch pitchesoff the eye, pitch on a machine
that we have Just come in just avisualization part of it.
But then after I got out of thewheelchair I got into a walker
(26:13):
and then I started doingone-handed drills off of a
shower stool.
Some person sent me a showerstool after an accident.
They were like, hey, you mightneed this.
Well, I turned that showerstool into a hitting tool rather
than an actual shower so Iwould sit on it and just do a
bunch of one-handed drills offof a tee.
And then eventually I got myfirst contact in December and I
(26:36):
was still kind of on a crutch.
So I'd take one crutch, prop itup under my left shoulder and
still do one-handed drills withmy first prosthetic.
And then whenever I got myprosthetic from Child's
Athletics Foundation that wasthe first running prosthetic I
ever had.
So it's more of kind of a blade, kind of like what you would
(26:58):
see in the Paralympics with discplayers and stuff.
But this one has a split footso it kind of feels like I have
a big toe, so that lateralmovement is better.
So the adjustment that I reallyhad to make in my swing to
provide power, because I don'thave that right ankle anymore
because of the term push the bugthat we've all heard of,
because I don't have that rightankle anymore, because the terms
push and bug that we've allheard of, I didn't have any.
(27:21):
How could I attribute force andpower into the ball, kind of
like I did beforehand when meand my hitting coach at tomorrow
realized that the scissormotion in the swing is the best
way to do that.
It's the Jose Altuve days inNew Orleans, where the extreme
kind of feedback with the lowerleg and it's really just a
(27:43):
counter force just to distributepower to the ball and really
it's a natural movement.
We just kind of get told out ofit at a young age with this
portion of bug mindset.
So we realized that the scissormotion was going to be big.
So I probably started doingthat probably around April of
2023, and that's whenever I sawmost progression really ever in
(28:08):
my career, because it allowed meto have that power again.
It allowed me to distributefour seconds in baseball.
Obviously, as I got stronger andused the leg more and more, I
distributed more force.
Now, the next, I think on myfirst year, it was like 97, 96,
97.
So I mean I was back up andthen what I was feeling was the
(28:33):
lateral movement was probablythe hardest thing with
prosthetics, especially a bladelike I have, but that split foot
really allows me to golf, butfeeling still is like probably
the hardest thing to do with theprosthetics, just because of
the movement.
But you know, it's just reallyrepetition is like the main
(28:55):
thing and you know, just gettingthose, getting those reps learn
how to use the leg, how it can,you know, be in my advantage
and my disadvantage was thebiggest thing well, I asked
everybody on the podcast thisone question and I'm gonna throw
it at you and I kind of get theimpression I'm gonna know the
answer.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Hey, hate losing or love winning uh, hate losing.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I think I just, I despise it, it's, it's, I just I
love winning, it's, it's reallyeverything, uh, but I think
losing what drives you, that's,that's where you, you learn the
most, is through the losses.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Um, so I would say losing was a most hilarious
experience or funny story thatyou have from all of your
playing days, from high schoolall the way up through oh man,
what do you guys say?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
that's a good question?
There's just so many times I'vehad to feel really just with my
dad and I wouldn't really saythat's a good question.
It's.
There's just so many times I'vehad to feel really just with my
dad and I wouldn't really sayit's just a game, but it's more
like the practices with my dadhim not being able to get a ball
to me, I shortstop throughgrass and having to get a fungo
man, like it's just, it's insane.
(30:18):
Just all the stories that wehave.
But I would say most of myfunny stories are you know, I
practice with my dad, uh, justafter hours, educators and all
that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
if you could pick two professional athletes to spend
the day with and learn from andtheir mentality and how they
approach the game of baseball.
Who would you pick?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Past or present, either, or my first one would be
Mike Trout.
I just think that he attacks.
I love his mindset about reallyeverything.
But first of all he wascommitted to ECU before he got
drafted out of high school, sohe's a part of himself, even
(31:08):
though he didn't go heretechnically.
But I just love Mike Trout.
I'm not anxious to have aBraves fan but second, I
wouldn't say I was really forhis mindset Just because it's
just my favorite player ever.
Is Rob McCann catching with theBraves?
And it's not a common answer atall, but I wear number 16
(31:29):
because of him.
I just love him as a kid.
So I think it would really belike my childhood dream To spend
the day with Rob McCann.
So I would say Mike Trout andBratwick camp.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
For those who are listening out there and they
want to follow you on socialmedia.
What are you on?
Are you on Instagram X?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, yeah, parker Bird 11 is my X Twitter,
whatever, and my Instagram isParker Bird P-A-R-K-E-R-D, but
it has two D's at the end, soit's Parker Bird, and then I
think TikTok is the same, okaylast question for you what has
(32:16):
adversity taught you and what isyour message to anyone out
there who's out there listening,facing an uphill battle?
Yeah, yeah, adversity.
You know that's where you growthe most is through adversity,
and I would just tell people toembrace it, because you know
(32:37):
life throws a lot of stuff atyou and it can be very
monotonous.
You know going through therehab process and you know a lot
of people's challenges in lifearen't really physical, like
mine, it's not really a boatingaccident, it's more mental.
It's going through a divorce.
You know, losing a loved one,battling cancer, whatever it is,
I would just say keep going.
(32:58):
Battling cancer, whatever it is, I would just say keep going.
God has a plan for you that'sbigger than our plan, because my
plan would be to be a startingshortstop here at East Carolina.
But obviously he had a biggerplan for me and there was a gray
area there where I didn't seeit like that.
I didn't really like theposition I was in.
I was very why me?
(33:19):
Until my mom did say the whynot you?
That's whenever I finallyflipped the switch.
I would say embrace it, loveyour neighbor and trust in God's
plan because he's going to leadyou into a lot better.
I wouldn't be talking to youtoday unless I got into an
accident.
I'm so grateful for all theopportunities that have came my
(33:43):
way, because now I get to go andinspire others that are going
through things and just tellingthem that, hey, god's purpose is
much greater than yours.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Well, it's Parker Byrne, East Carolina University
baseball.
Parker, I can't say enough goodthings, man, You're a special
dude and I can't thank you andyour family enough for you guys
taking the time to be onBaseball Coaches.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Unplugged.
Yes, sir, well, I appreciate it, man.
God bless everybody listening.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Be sure to tune in every Wednesday for a new
episode here on Baseball CoachesUnplugged.
Today's episode was powered bythe NETIC Professionals
Improving Programs, one facilityat a time.
Contact Will Miner and his teamat 844-620-2707.
And, as always, I'm your host,coach Ken Carpenter.
(34:40):
Thanks for joining me onBaseball Coaches Unplugged.
Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Imagine what it takes to makean elite Division I baseball
program as a freshman Transferportal.
Average age of player is nearly21 years old and the coach is
expecting production the minuteyou step on campus.
Now imagine trying to play withyour right leg amputated below
(00:24):
your knee.
Trying to play with your rightleg amputated below your knee.
East Carolina Universityinfielder Parker Bird suffered a
near-fatal accident whileboating with teammates the
summer before his freshmanseason.
After 20-plus surgeries, parkerdid what most would think is
impossible, thanks to his family, coach Cliff Godwin and
(00:44):
teammates.
Thanks to his family, coachCliff Godwin and teammates the
power of belief and theincredible determination.
Next on Baseball Coaches.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Unplugged.
Welcome to Baseball CoachesUnplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented byAthleteOne.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is apodcast for baseball coaches
With 27 years of high schoolbaseball coaching under his belt
, here to bring you the insidescoop on all things baseball,
from game-winning strategies andpitching secrets to hitting
drills and defensive drills.
(01:12):
We're covering it all.
Whether you're a high schoolcoach, college coach or just a
baseball enthusiast, we'll diveinto the tactics and techniques
that make the difference on andoff the field.
Discover how to build a winningmentality, inspire your players
(01:48):
and get them truly bought.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
We'll be right back your competitive edge starts
here, so check out the showweekly and hear from the best
coaches in the game.
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Today's episode of BaseballCoaches Unplugged is powered by
the netting professionalsimproving programs one facility
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Coaches, are you hoping to getone more season out of your
batting cages or L-screens Tiredof broken ball buckets or the
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It's time for you to take yourfacility to the next level.
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This includes backstop battingcages, bp turtles, bp screens
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(03:00):
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It helps us to grow the show.
Now to my episode with EastCarolina University infielder
Parker Bird.
Hello and welcome to BaseballCoaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and I'm excited to
have jumping on the show with metoday.
Parker Bird, east CarolinaUniversity, infielder Parker,
(03:45):
thanks for taking the time tojoin me on Baseball Coaches
Unplugged.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
It's an honor, man.
I appreciate you having me onhere.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
For those people out there that don't know your story
, which I'm sure just abouteverybody should you were in a
serious boating accident and hadto have your leg amputated
accident and had to have yourleg amputated.
But what I wanted to start offwith was February 16th 2024.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I'm sure that day is pretty special.
Tell me about that day.
Yeah, it was a cool day, forsure.
Yeah, so that was last year ofthe.
We were playing a rider Fridaynight, obviously, and that was
my first collegiate game backfrom my accident and coach
Godwin told me whenever we werelike stretching, hey, we had
(04:40):
comfortable leads, hey, be readyto go in.
So I was like all right, soundsgood.
Well, we scored, like ready togo in.
So I was like all right, soundsgood.
Well, we scored like seven runsin the first inning.
I was like, oh, today's the day, god's letting it happen.
Quick.
Well, offense kind of spelledout for a couple of innings and
then they scored a little bit.
(05:00):
So it was like a 7-4 game or7-3, something crazy.
But then we just startedscoring again and then I got in
the bat and it was really cool.
I mean, you got thestabilization, but just a lot of
hard work, that's you know,went into that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Getting back into uh this I can imagine, you know it
it's.
It's crazy enough to get yourfirst AB at the Division I level
but you know, walking up therewith everything that you've been
through and you know a stadiumand everybody there just going
crazy for you, I bet you theemotions were just going 100
(05:40):
miles an hour and I can't evenimagine it.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, it was a really cool time because Pirate Nation
here in Great World they'revery passionate about their
sports, especially baseball, soI mean they're loud in general,
but that day was even more loudthan I've ever heard.
It wasn't even packed out likeit typically is.
It was kind of a colder Fridaynight.
(06:05):
We were winning big, so a lotof people had already left, but
the place got louder than I'veheard.
Honestly, it was reallyemotional.
But you know my competitivenature.
I had to walk back into thegame and obviously try and get a
hit, so I just took a moment inand just took a deep breath and
(06:26):
got back into the box.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, coming out of high school you were one of the
top players in the state ofNorth Carolina and you know from
my research it was like youwere automatic.
As soon as you got offered togo to ECU, you were like that's
where I'm going, yeah, but ifyou don't mind, could you take
me back to the day of theboating accident and how that
(06:53):
all went?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
down, yeah, yeah.
So I committed to East Carolinamy ninth grade year.
Both of my parents went to ECU.
So I grew up being a Pirate fanand I was going through the
recruiting process pretty early.
I think I went to some campsgoing into my ninth grade year
summer so around August or soand I went to three camps.
(07:17):
First weekend I went to Duke.
I had a great time, lovedeverything there.
It was a really cool camp.
Then the second one, I went toEast Carolina and I was kind of
already biased because of myparents and growing up being a
Pirate fan, but I was.
You know the recruiting process, you have to have an open mind
about everything.
So I came to camp here and youknow everything I ever thought
(07:41):
it was going to be.
That's what it was and I lovedit, loved the coaching staff,
loved the field.
I already knew the fans werephenomenal, so I really loved
everything about it.
And the third weekend I wentwith Coach Carolina and after
that camp that was the firsttime I talked to Coach Collin
and Coach Blumbo.
Then we kept in contact andCoach Blumbo and coach g both
(08:04):
kind of followed me throughouttravel ball the next couple
months and they offered me innovember and I committed around
spike.
That's where I wanted to go, um, and then end up having a
pretty successful high schoolcareer.
Um, then I had to come to eastcarolina in 2022 for summer
(08:25):
school after I graduated highschool, and it was just all the
incoming freshmen and a coupleof transfers and basically they
bring us here in the summertimejust to get activated to, you
know, a new environment, howcollege is, finally getting away
from your parents for the firsttime.
So it was just me and my newincoming teammates and we're
(08:48):
having a great time.
We, you know, started inprobably mid-june and was
planning to leave late july andwe were here for probably four
weeks already and we got a newrecruit and he was like hey, he
told us his name.
He's like hey, my family has ariver house probably 30 minutes
from here.
We should all go down sometime.
Then, you know, just have agood time.
(09:09):
And Greenville is a great townbut it's pretty boring in the
summertime because it's such acollege town.
So we're like all right, soundsgood.
And the fact that he was just alate recruit was kind of weird
in itself because a lot ofpeople had committed pretty
early on like myself.
So he came in, told us that,well, all right, sounds good,
(09:31):
we'll go sometime.
And so it was last week in thesummer that we were here, that
everybody was still here.
He kept on asking all right,sounds good, man, we'll go down,
he's had such a great time andwe'll go have fun.
Friday, after our more than 300of our workouts and all that
good stuff, we went down to backNorth Carolina where the
(09:54):
Riverhouse was, and honestly,everything was great.
It lived up to the potentialand the hype that the guy was
talking about and we had a greattime.
Well, that Saturday morning Iwas supposed to take one of the
guys.
His name is Miles Curley.
So I was supposed to take Milesback to a home in Greenville
because he was supposed to helpan heirloom move some furniture.
Well, he got a call thatmorning saying hey, miles,
(10:16):
thanks for volunteering, but wedon't really need your help
anymore.
And so us.
You know, just being18-year-old at the time, I had
to have fun again.
So we went out.
We met a guy named Diggs on thetube first that day and the
first ride in Austin was really,really good.
We were on for probably about20, 25 minutes and we got back
(10:38):
going.
The driver was like, hey, I'mgoing to try to throw you guys
off a little bit quicker thistime.
You guys are all for a goodball.
So I'm going to throw you guysoff a little bit quicker this
time.
You guys are all for a goodball, so I'm going to go a
little bit crazier.
All right, sounds good.
Well, you know, I'm going to goa little bit crazier than we
thought.
Diggs ended up falling off thetube pretty quickly and I
followed shortly after him.
We both hit the water prettyhard so I had to get back to the
boat.
Got it done for right.
(11:00):
Now We'll let somebody else gogo and we're just gonna hang out
.
So we're swimming back to theboat and I was far ahead of from
where we had landed, uh, withthe boat, and as I got within 10
to 15 yards, I was using therope from the tube to help get
myself back in, and in themeantime the driver put the boat
in reverse, or got knocked intoreverse somehow, which
eventually led to me being stuckunder the boat.
(11:22):
The propeller hit both of mylegs and then I pushed off to my
left hand, which was also hit.
And then, from there.
Miles Curley, the guy I wassupposed to take back to be home
with Greenville, jumped inimmediately because he was from
Florida and had a friend die ina boating accident.
So he knew that getting me helpwas really urgent.
(11:42):
So he jumped in Him and Dixonhelped guide myself back on the
boat From there.
They were trying to turn it,get through it the best they
could with these shirts thatthey had.
In the meantime they were alsowaving down on the boats because
our boat wasn't able to movedue to the rope being caught in
the propeller.
They waved down on the boat.
The first boat stopped and theyaddressed the situation to him,
(12:06):
told him they needed help, andthe boat basically said sorry,
we can't really help, but wehave kids on the boat.
We don't really want to exposethem to the scene, but here's a
first aid kit and my friendswere like his legs were torn
from a Band-Aid at this point.
So the guys threw, threw thepicket and then continued to
wave down to the boats and thesecond boat stopped.
(12:28):
They addressed the situation tothem and they agreed to help.
So they transferred me over tothat boat and on that boat one
of the ladies was actually anurse, so she knew even more
what to do.
And the only reason they weregoing back in that day was
because it was two couples onthe boat.
One of them had got into anargument and they're like hey,
can you just take me back, we'redone for the day, we want to go
(12:51):
home.
So they're on the way back.
They saw us and they stoppedand then so they transported me
over to that boat and then theytook me to the marina where
there was an ambulance waitingon me which took me to a local
hospital where I had ahelicopter waiting on me to
airlift me to Eastview Healthhere in Greenville.
I stayed there for a total offour weeks and then I had a
(13:14):
total of 22 surgeries in 56 days.
So it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Wow, that's an amazing story and you know, it's
kind of crazy that you saidthat the first boat didn't want
to help.
You know, right, right, andluckily the next boat is someone
with a nurse and you know, it'samazing how those things come
together.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, no coincidence, man, everything was working out
for God's plan.
He just had his hand oneverything.
And it's just crazy.
I mean, if that person tried tohelp, maybe I wouldn't even be
here, because a lady tied hercircuit all the way, because she
knew how to, you know, tie itwith a rope.
(13:59):
Um, I maybe not even got to themarina where the ambulance was
waiting, you never know.
So it's really cool because youknow, in the meantime it's easy
for human nature to get mad atsomething that doesn't get your
way.
You know, not just accident,but that's just life.
(14:19):
You know, like, for instance,the other day I got my first
collegiate RBI and my dad wasn'tat the game the away game
midweek and he has to work so hewasn't there that day.
My first collegiate RBI and Iwas, I honestly got my first hit
.
It was honestly a middle,middle basketball, competitive
nature.
I just I had a stack fly but Iwas like, dang, I should get
(14:42):
that ball 400 feet.
But then Friday that was onWednesday, friday I got my first
collegiate hit and my dad wasthere.
So you know, in the meantime Iwas eating this thing.
Dang, I should have hit thatball, hit that ball that he's
working out for the better.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yes, definitely.
Well, when they made thedecision at the hospital to
amputate your leg below the knee, what led them to that decision
?
I mean, was it like we got todo this now?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Right, yeah, so my accident happened on July 23rd
of 2022, and I had my amputationon August 4th and, honestly,
the whole hospital said it'skind of a roller coaster for me
and my whole entire familybecause we got there and they
stopped the bleeding in my firstsurgery.
They didn't really know what totell my parents.
(15:36):
They're like, hey, we don'treally know, we just know that
your son's alive and thebleeding's not.
A couple surgeries later, theydidn't know where the static
nerve was and they filmed thatEverything's looking like it's
going well.
The doctors tell my parents hey, we think that he's going to be
able to keep both of his legs,everything's going like we hoped
(15:59):
it to and it looks like he willget back to playing baseball
with some extensive rehab.
Well, I think probably aroundsurgery eight or nine, they
realized that blood was goingdown to my foot but it wasn't
returning back up.
And that was just the initialshock of the body.
I was already clamping up andall that good stuff.
(16:21):
Well, it was going down to myfoot but it wasn't returning
back up, so basically, it wasdying slowly.
I just came into my room themorning of August 4th so I was
like hey, barker, you have twooptions we can continue this
medicine that we're having onnow, which isn't really working,
and infection can spread toyour kidneys and lungs and
(16:41):
basically you'll end up dying,is what they said.
Or option B we can just amputateyour right lower extremity.
And I was like, well, this isbigger than just a leg man, this
is not life.
So I obviously chose option Band amputated him.
But you know, obviously hechose option B and imitated him.
But you know, I just realizedthat life's bigger than baseball
.
At that point it's more aboutlife and obviously baseball is
(17:04):
on your brain, but essentially,you know, the life's bigger than
just baseball.
It's just more than that.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Well, this is where you had a conversation where you
know you're like anybody inthat situation is probably
thinking baseball, of all things, it's over.
But you kind of went into thewhy not me?
Why can't I see if I canovercome this right?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, yeah.
So my mom in the hospital.
I was staying, it's like due tothe hospital.
At that time COVID was stillkind of in effect.
I was in the ICU and only oneperson at a time could be in my
room, two people per day.
So my mom and dad wereswitching on and off.
(17:51):
As much as I love both of them,I kind of got tired of seeing
them.
I was wanting to see my sistersand all my friends and all that
good stuff.
My mom was saying we'd be inthe hospital Maybe the day after
my invitation, maybe two daysaround that time period.
She could tell I was kind ofdown.
(18:12):
She was like Parker, why areyou down?
I was like well, mom, I don'tknow if you know this or not,
but I don't think I'll be ableto play baseball again.
And she's like well, why do yousay that?
And I was like there's neverbeen a player that ever played a
prosthetic leg in college.
And she was like well, therealways has to be a first, why
not you?
And that's where things kind ofjust flipped in my brain to
(18:36):
where I was like you know what?
that's going to be a first foreverything, and now I have the
privilege to, you know, set thestandard for other kids out
there with prostate legs andshowing them that you know you
can do it.
There's still hope out there.
Even though adversity hits yourlife, you don't look the same
as everybody else.
(18:57):
It doesn't matter, because youwill, especially if you work
hard and there's some God in youthat will do what's possible.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yes, and you know, as a parent, my son was born with
severe club feet and the doctorstold us early on they said
baseball or any sports probablynot going to happen, right, and
we just attacked it likeanything's possible.
(19:27):
And you know attitude'severything.
And even as a young kid hereally changed his approach to
everything and ended up gettinga chance to play high school and
college baseball.
That's awesome.
But you know, in your situationeverybody thinks baseball is
over.
But you know you guys had adifferent mindset and you know
(19:54):
it leads to you playing forCoach Godwin at East Carolina
there.
And the reality with collegebaseball these guys are coaching
for their life.
It's their job, it's not like ahigh school coach.
And talk about Coach Godwin and, if you could, a little bit
(20:16):
about the coaching staff and theteam, how they responded to
your situation.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, yeah, and I'm so blessed to be here at East
Carolina because of the coachingstaff and honestly, that's why
everybody commits here.
Really it's because CoachGodwin, coach coach blumbo, aka
our pitching coach, everybody'sgoing to push you to.
You know your limit to get thebest out of you, you know, but
(20:45):
with also that they, they trustin you too and they believe in
you.
Um, and you know, after myaccident the first person at the
hospital was coach gollum.
I mean, he was all of ourrecruit, was on a visit, he was
with them.
My dad called him because myparents were back home in
Warrenburg, where I'm from, andthat's like two and a half hours
(21:06):
away from Greenville.
So they got in a call thatbasically said hey, you need to
get to Greenville fast, parker'sbeen in a boating accident and
he's dying.
That's basically what they got.
And so my dad wanted somebodyto be at the hospital when I got
there, even though I wouldn'tsee him, he just wanted, you
know, that validation.
(21:27):
So he called Coach Collin CoachCollin, let it ring out the
first time because he's arecruit or a visit with a
recruit, and my dad keepscalling him and finally, he's
like a recruit or a visit with arecruit and my dad keeps
calling him and finally he'slike coach gollins.
I held up one second, uh, andanswered phone to my dad.
My dad said, hey, coach gollin,um, I'm sorry to bother you,
but parker's been in a boatingaccident.
(21:49):
And, uh, we really could you goto the hospital?
And coach gollin immediatelysaid, yes, I'll be there.
So he told the recruit hey, II'm so sorry, but one of our
players has been in a boatingaccident.
I need to go to the hospital.
So he went to the hospital, wasthe very first person there at
the hospital and it just reallyshowed us how caring he is, how
(22:14):
much of a great person he is.
He's honestly changed so muchover the past three, four years.
The year before I got here, aguy named Zach Agnos' dad passed
away and Nico was a great humanbeing.
He was a phenomenal guy, a hugepart of the ECU community, and
(22:35):
he passed away unexpectedly dueto COVID.
That year really changed CoachCarver.
Then next year an accidenthappened.
He just realized how fast lifecan change.
He got right with his place andbecame such a better person.
Because of my accident, becauseof Nico's passing.
It's been really cool to seehim walk his faith.
(22:59):
But you know, just for himallowing me to have the
opportunity, a lot of people incollege baseball, especially in
today's world, would just, youknow, give up on a guy, go to a
transfer portal and try to getsome other shortstop.
But Coach Collin, coachBarbaugh, they were stuck in
that with me because I told themin the hospital, I was like,
hey, my goal is to come back.
(23:19):
I was like I'm going to playbaseball again.
He's like I believe in you,like you're going to do it.
And so the first year I kind oftook a gap year, just to you
know rehab, get my prostheticsand all that.
And then last year was my firstyear playing collegiate baseball
and obviously it was my firstyear playing collegiate baseball
.
Obviously, you gave me anopportunity to do this today, so
I'm so extremely thankful forall the coaching staff, all my
(23:41):
teammates, my teammates, for thehuge role in, you know the
recovery process, because a lotof rehab is mental.
I tell people all the time.
You know a lot of it isphysical, like there's a lot of
physical challenges, but that'sonly about 20% of it.
The rest of it's know themental, the mental capacity of
getting up every day trying toget better and really just
(24:04):
changing your perspective, andthey really allow me to find a
purpose.
And you know, it was reallyeasy to wake up those days where
you don't really want to go topt and then you see them out
there grinding, so it's easy togo to p, and then you see them
out there grinding, so it's easyto go to PT whenever you see
that.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, let me ask you this.
I mean, I'm sure there's peoplelistening to the podcast that
are saying, okay, how does heswing, how does he hit?
Because you're pushing off yourback leg and you know how do
you, you feel you're aninfielder and could you leg.
And you know how do you feelYou're an infielder and could
you kind of just you know, Iguess briefly, kind of go
(24:41):
through the progression a littlebit?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
100%.
Yeah.
So the progression man wasincredible.
I got out of the hospital andobviously, baseball was my mind
and let's get back into thecages, but I'm in a wheelchair
at this point and I got out onhis 20th.
Obviously, baseball is my mindand let's get back into the
cages, but I'm in a wheelchairat this point and I got out
(25:07):
August 20th of 2022.
I didn't receive my firstprosthetic until December of
that year.
Well, that prosthetic didn'tfit very well at all.
The Challenge AthletesFoundation, which is a
foundation that helps thedisadvantaged and your people
get back into the game of life,they provided me with my first
grant.
Bob Babbitt provided me with myfirst grant in March of 2023.
(25:29):
That was the first time I had aprostate that actually fit well
and I was actually fully weightbearing on it.
So there was a probably eightmonth period seven, eight month
period there that I didn'treally have a prosthetic at all
and I was kind of on crutches.
But in the meantime, you know,I'm trying to get back into
baseball and I can't take itseven, eight, but yeah, that's
(25:51):
just, and I held baseball roles.
It's the consistency of thegame.
Well, uh, so I got out of thehospital I was in a wheelchair
and I would just watch pitchesoff the eye, pitch on a machine
that we have Just come in just avisualization part of it.
But then after I got out of thewheelchair I got into a walker
(26:13):
and then I started doingone-handed drills off of a
shower stool.
Some person sent me a showerstool after an accident.
They were like, hey, you mightneed this.
Well, I turned that showerstool into a hitting tool rather
than an actual shower so Iwould sit on it and just do a
bunch of one-handed drills offof a tee.
And then eventually I got myfirst contact in December and I
(26:36):
was still kind of on a crutch.
So I'd take one crutch, prop itup under my left shoulder and
still do one-handed drills withmy first prosthetic.
And then whenever I got myprosthetic from Child's
Athletics Foundation that wasthe first running prosthetic I
ever had.
So it's more of kind of a blade, kind of like what you would
(26:58):
see in the Paralympics with discplayers and stuff.
But this one has a split footso it kind of feels like I have
a big toe, so that lateralmovement is better.
So the adjustment that I reallyhad to make in my swing to
provide power, because I don'thave that right ankle anymore
because of the term push the bugthat we've all heard of,
because I don't have that rightankle anymore, because the terms
push and bug that we've allheard of, I didn't have any.
(27:21):
How could I attribute force andpower into the ball, kind of
like I did beforehand when meand my hitting coach at tomorrow
realized that the scissormotion in the swing is the best
way to do that.
It's the Jose Altuve days inNew Orleans, where the extreme
kind of feedback with the lowerleg and it's really just a
(27:43):
counter force just to distributepower to the ball and really
it's a natural movement.
We just kind of get told out ofit at a young age with this
portion of bug mindset.
So we realized that the scissormotion was going to be big.
So I probably started doingthat probably around April of
2023, and that's whenever I sawmost progression really ever in
(28:08):
my career, because it allowed meto have that power again.
It allowed me to distributefour seconds in baseball.
Obviously, as I got stronger andused the leg more and more, I
distributed more force.
Now, the next, I think on myfirst year, it was like 97, 96,
97.
So I mean I was back up andthen what I was feeling was the
(28:33):
lateral movement was probablythe hardest thing with
prosthetics, especially a bladelike I have, but that split foot
really allows me to golf, butfeeling still is like probably
the hardest thing to do with theprosthetics, just because of
the movement.
But you know, it's just reallyrepetition is like the main
(28:55):
thing and you know, just gettingthose, getting those reps learn
how to use the leg, how it can,you know, be in my advantage
and my disadvantage was thebiggest thing well, I asked
everybody on the podcast thisone question and I'm gonna throw
it at you and I kind of get theimpression I'm gonna know the
answer.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Hey, hate losing or love winning uh, hate losing.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I think I just, I despise it, it's, it's, I just I
love winning, it's, it's reallyeverything, uh, but I think
losing what drives you, that's,that's where you, you learn the
most, is through the losses.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Um, so I would say losing was a most hilarious
experience or funny story thatyou have from all of your
playing days, from high schoolall the way up through oh man,
what do you guys say?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
that's a good question?
There's just so many times I'vehad to feel really just with my
dad and I wouldn't really saythat's a good question.
It's.
There's just so many times I'vehad to feel really just with my
dad and I wouldn't really sayit's just a game, but it's more
like the practices with my dadhim not being able to get a ball
to me, I shortstop throughgrass and having to get a fungo
man, like it's just, it's insane.
(30:18):
Just all the stories that wehave.
But I would say most of myfunny stories are you know, I
practice with my dad, uh, justafter hours, educators and all
that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
if you could pick two professional athletes to spend
the day with and learn from andtheir mentality and how they
approach the game of baseball.
Who would you pick?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Past or present, either, or my first one would be
Mike Trout.
I just think that he attacks.
I love his mindset about reallyeverything.
But first of all he wascommitted to ECU before he got
drafted out of high school, sohe's a part of himself, even
(31:08):
though he didn't go heretechnically.
But I just love Mike Trout.
I'm not anxious to have aBraves fan but second, I
wouldn't say I was really forhis mindset Just because it's
just my favorite player ever.
Is Rob McCann catching with theBraves?
And it's not a common answer atall, but I wear number 16
(31:29):
because of him.
I just love him as a kid.
So I think it would really belike my childhood dream To spend
the day with Rob McCann.
So I would say Mike Trout andBratwick camp.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
For those who are listening out there and they
want to follow you on socialmedia.
What are you on?
Are you on Instagram X?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, yeah, parker Bird 11 is my X Twitter,
whatever, and my Instagram isParker Bird P-A-R-K-E-R-D, but
it has two D's at the end, soit's Parker Bird, and then I
think TikTok is the same, okaylast question for you what has
(32:16):
adversity taught you and what isyour message to anyone out
there who's out there listening,facing an uphill battle?
Yeah, yeah, adversity.
You know that's where you growthe most is through adversity,
and I would just tell people toembrace it, because you know
(32:37):
life throws a lot of stuff atyou and it can be very
monotonous.
You know going through therehab process and you know a lot
of people's challenges in lifearen't really physical, like
mine, it's not really a boatingaccident, it's more mental.
It's going through a divorce.
You know, losing a loved one,battling cancer, whatever it is,
I would just say keep going.
(32:58):
Battling cancer, whatever it is, I would just say keep going.
God has a plan for you that'sbigger than our plan, because my
plan would be to be a startingshortstop here at East Carolina.
But obviously he had a biggerplan for me and there was a gray
area there where I didn't seeit like that.
I didn't really like theposition I was in.
I was very why me?
(33:19):
Until my mom did say the whynot you?
That's whenever I finallyflipped the switch.
I would say embrace it, loveyour neighbor and trust in God's
plan because he's going to leadyou into a lot better.
I wouldn't be talking to youtoday unless I got into an
accident.
I'm so grateful for all theopportunities that have came my
(33:43):
way, because now I get to go andinspire others that are going
through things and just tellingthem that, hey, god's purpose is
much greater than yours.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Well, it's Parker Byrne, East Carolina University
baseball.
Parker, I can't say enough goodthings, man, You're a special
dude and I can't thank you andyour family enough for you guys
taking the time to be onBaseball Coaches.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Unplugged.
Yes, sir, well, I appreciate it, man.
God bless everybody listening.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Be sure to tune in every Wednesday for a new
episode here on Baseball CoachesUnplugged.
Today's episode was powered bythe NETIC Professionals
Improving Programs, one facilityat a time.
Contact Will Miner and his teamat 844-620-2707.
And, as always, I'm your host,coach Ken Carpenter.
(34:40):
Thanks for joining me onBaseball Coaches Unplugged.
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