HEADLINE

Baby Shark headed overseas: Parra to play in Japan

Field Level Media

November 20, 2019 at 3:39 pm.

Outfielder Gerardo Parra agreed to a contract with the Yomiuri Giants, the Japanese professional baseball team announced on Wednesday.

Parra, whose popularity increased after using “Baby Shark” as his walk-up song, batted .250 with eight homers and 42 RBIs in 89 games last season for the Washington Nationals. The 32-year-old spent his first 30 games of the campaign with the San Francisco Giants.

The Washington Post said the deal is for $2 million in 2020 plus a $500,000 bonus. The contract includes a vesting option for 2021 worth $3 million.

While mired in a slump, Parra chose the catchy children’s song after seeing his 2-year-old daughter dance to it. The tune later became an anthem for the Nationals as they rallied from a 19-31 start to win the first World Series title in franchise history.

“What he’s done in that clubhouse has really changed the way these guys go about their business. I mean, it was business. There wasn’t a whole lot of — he made it fun for this team,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said to NBC Sports Washington in October.

“Those guys up there, every one of his teammates love him, love him. All the fans love him. He’s just that guy. He’s the Parra Shark.”

Parra, 32, batted .276 with 88 homers and 522 RBIs over 11 seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2009-14), Milwaukee Brewers (2014-15), Baltimore Orioles (2015), Colorado Rockies (2016-18), Giants (2019) and Nationals (2019).