BUIES CREEK, N.C. — Two years ago, Parker Byrd was one of the best high school baseball players in the country, ranked 126th. He had a promising future with options to head straight to Major League Baseball with a projected late-round draft pick, or he could go to one of the top college baseball programs in the country and build his stock in the NCAA. 

But 19 months ago, Parker Byrd's life was changed when he was involved in a boating accident when tubing with his friends. The East Carolina baseball commit lost his right leg in an amputation procedure that created the possibility he would never walk again.

"You know, his mom told him pretty early on, there's no D-1 guy that's ever played the game with a prosthetic leg. You could be the first," Parker Byrd's dad, Jeff Byrd, said. "I went to Dick's and bought him a five-pound, actually a 10-pound weight, and he was so weak, he couldn't even pick up 10 pounds, but I made him start working out in the hospital, because we didn't want him to quit, we didn't want him to lose his fight."

"And as soon as he got home from the hospital, he said, let's go to the cage," Jeff Byrd said. "He was in a wheelchair, and he went to the cage in a wheelchair, and all he wanted to do was track pitches, and from that moment, he has figured out what it has taken to get back to this moment right here."

The moment Jeff Byrd was referring to was the fourth game of the 2024 college baseball season, just a few days following a historic moment in sports.

In game one, Parker Byrd became the first Division I baseball player to compete in a game with a prosthetic leg. He drew a walk Feb. 16 in his team's win over Rider. 

"My family, my mom, kind of implied early on in my accident, she told me keep going, there always has to be a first, why couldn't it be me, so kind of ever since then, I believed in this dream and knew that one day, it would come true," Parker Byrd said. 

His dream of playing major league baseball may have changed, but now he's on a path to inspire others.

"Show people I can still play baseball, and just because I lost some limbs doesn't mean my life is over," Parker Byrd said. "People that have limb differentials and prosthetics are still athletes."

For Jeff Byrd, watching his son play baseball again has been awe-inspiring. 

"Nineteen months ago, we never thought this day would happen. And just to be able to get in the car and drive to a game, the possibility he could get in the game, is always a big moment for me and his mom and his two sisters just to know he's back in the game," Jeff Byrd said. "Aside from the birth of my three children, it was probably the greatest moment of my life. I never thought I'd see him step in the box again."

Parker Byrd will continue to practice and play for the Pirates as they look to compete for a national championship. His family and friends will be there with him every step of the way, as he looks to become a baseball para-Olympic athlete in the future.