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Jacob Turner

Read The Transcript Of Our Chat With Former MLB Pitcher Jacob Turner

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Considered the “consensus top high school righthander available” by Baseball America back in 2009, Jacob Turner was drafted ninth overall by the Tigers out of Westminster Christian Academy in Missouri.  He stood at 6’5″, 210 lbs and touched 98 with his fastball.   Adviser Scott Boras was able to get the 18-year-old Turner a $5.5MM Major League contract, most of which came in the form of a signing bonus.

After two years in the minors, MLB.com ranked Turner the 15th prospect in the game, ahead of future stars such as Nolan Arenado, Zack Wheeler, and Francisco Lindor.  Turner made his MLB debut at the age of 20, pitching well against the Angels for Jim Leyland’s Tigers.  At that point in late 2011, Turner profiled as a future number two or three starter in the Majors.

The following year, Turner picked up his first big league win on July 22nd against the White Sox.  The 2012 Tigers would go on to win the pennant, but they’d do so without Turner.  The day after that first career W, they sent him packing to the Marlins for more immediate help in the form of Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante.

By late May 2013, Turner had secured a spot in a Marlins rotation that also featured Jose Fernandez, Tom Koehler, Ricky Nolasco, Nathan Eovaldi, and Henderson Alvarez.  Turner’s age-22 season would turn out to be his best, as he put together 20 starts with a 3.74 ERA that year.

Things took a turn in 2014, as Turner lost both his rotation and 40-man roster spots with the Marlins, joining the Cubs on a waiver claim.  An elbow injury spoiled Turner’s 2015 season, which ended in a crosstown waiver claim by the White Sox.  Turner went on to a stint with the Nationals, followed by returns to the Marlins and Tigers.  For the 2019 season, Turner moved to KBO’s Kia Tigers.

Turner’s time in MLB was over before his 30th birthday, certainly not the career some expected of him back when he was starring in high school and the low minors.  But he still competed for parts of seven seasons in the bigs, pitching 369 innings and making 56 starts.  The 22-year-old kid was pretty darn good in the Majors in 2013, going at least seven innings five different times that year.  One career highlight: a one-run, complete game victory over the Padres that year.  Across those seven seasons, Turner punched out many of the game’s stars, including Bryce Harper, Buster Posey, Carlos Beltran, Jose Bautista, Nolan Arenado, David Wright, and Freddie Freeman.

Still only 31 years old, Turner now runs a company that “helps educate athletes around money and helps them be good stewards of the money earned in their careers,” as he puts it.  He’s on Twitter @TheSuddenWealth, where he posted a thread last summer about his experiences that ended up going viral.  Jacob notes that people can DM him on Twitter to get in touch, and you can view his website here.

Jacob took questions from MLBTR readers earlier today.  Click here to read the transcript!

If you’re a current or former MLB player, we’d love to have you for a chat with our readers!  It’s a great way to interact with fans for an hour, and you get to choose which questions you publish.  Click here to contact us.

Former Big Leaguers Playing Abroad: KBO Pitcher Roundup

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It’s always fun to keep an eye on familiar players who’ve taken their talents across the pond. Now that the 2019 season is in the books, it seemed an opportune time to check in. Numerous former big leaguers are playing abroad, many of them thriving in Asia’s top leagues.

We’ve seen foreign stints help spur big league revivals from quite a few players. Eric Thames, Miles Mikolas, and Chris Martin are among those that played significant roles in the 2019 MLB campaign. Whether any of the players covered below will do so remains to be seen, but there’s certainly a path.

We started by looking at position players in the Korea Baseball Organization, the top league in South Korea. Remember, teams in the KBO and other leagues face limits on the number of non-native players they can employ. That creates a lot of pressure to secure big production from those roster spots, and often spurs mid-season change.

Now, we’ll check in on KBO’s hurlers. (Statistics courtesy of the always excellent MyKBO.)

  • The LG Twins made out like bandits with Tyler Wilson and Casey Kelly. The former, who once had a three-season run with the Orioles, spun 185 frames of 2.92 ERA ball in his second strong KBO effort. The latter, a former first-round pick and veteran of four MLB campaigns, was even more effective, with a 2.55 ERA in his 180 1/3 innings despite a less-than-impressive 126:41 K/BB ratio.
  • But neither of those hurlers took the foreign hurler ERA crown. That went to Josh Lindblom of the Doosan Bears, who has carved out a prominent career in Korea and was at his finest in 2019. Over 194 2/3 frames, he worked to a 2.50 ERA with 189 strikeouts against just 29 free passes. Doosan’s other out-of-town pitcher, Seth Frankoff (a one-appearance MLB veteran), spun 117 1/3 frames of 3.61 ERA ball.
  • Righty Angel Sanchez pitched great for the SK Wyverns in his second season with the club. The former Pirates hurler sported a 2.62 ERA in 165 innings. Teammate Henry Sosa, a former Astro turned KBO stalwart, threw 94 1/3 frames of 3.82 ERA ball. Another strong combination was formed by the Kiwoom (formerly Nexen) Heroes. Eric Jokisch posted a 3.13 ERA in thirty starts while Jake Brigham went for a 2.96 mark in 28 outings.
  • The Hanwha Eagles also got a nice 1-2 effort from a pair of former (Detroit) Tigers hurlers. Righty Warwick Saupold went for 192 1/3 innings of 3.51 ERA pitching, while southpaw Chad Bell notched a 3.50 ERA in his 177 1/3 frames of work. Another duo — Athletics alum Raul Alcantara and former Red Sox/Tigers hurler William Cuevas — was solid but unexceptional with the KT Wiz. The former worked to a 4.01 ERA while the latter checked in at 3.62 earned per nine.
  • The NC Dinos received strong output from right-hander Drew Rucinski, who was pitching his first season in the KBO after jumping around with several MLB organizations in recent years. He logged 177 1/3 innings of 3.05 ERA ball. Eddie Butler lost his spot with the Dinos after 13 marginal outings, with the club replacing him with fellow former Rockies hurler Christian Friedrich. The new southpaw proved a better fit, working to a 2.75 ERA over 72 frames over a dozen starts after being plucked from the indy ball ranks.
  • The Samsung Lions parted ways with Justin Haley and Deck McGuire after watching them combine for forty starts with more than five earned per nine. Fellow righty Ben Lively was better after he came over, throwing 57 innings with a 3.95 ERA and 58 strikeouts.
  • The KIA Tigers struggled to get consistent results from their foreign hurlers. Former MLB righties Jacob Turner (5.46 ERA in 153 1/3 innings) and Joe Wieland (4.75 ERA in 165 innings) both disappointed.
  • Likewise, Jake Thompson failed to make good on his chance with the Lotte Giants, providing them 62 2/3 innings of 4.74 ERA ball before he was cut loose. Lotte received better work from Brooks Raley (181 innings, 3.88 ERA) and Brock Dykxhoorn (149 1/3 innings, 4.34 ERA).

Korea’s KIA Tigers Sign Jacob Turner, Jeremy Hazelbaker

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8:02pm: The club has announced the signing of Turner as well as that of outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker (via Yonhap News; again, as conveyed by Kurtz). Turner receives a $1MM salary ($300K via signing bonus), while Hazelbaker will take home $700K ($200K signing bonus).

The 31-year-old Hazelbaker has impressive MLB numbers in a small sample. He has also at times posted compelling numbers in the upper minors, though 2018 was not his finest effort. While bouncing between three organizations, Hazelbaker ended the most recent campaign with a .204/.298/.385 slash over 356 plate appearances.

7:24pm: Veteran righty Jacob Turner has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Korea Baseball Organization’s KIA Tigers, per Naver Sports (Korean language link; h/t Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net, on Twitter). Financial terms are not known.

Turner, who is still just 27 years of age, was once one of the brightest pitching prospects in baseball. While he raced to the big leagues in his second professional season at twenty years of age, Turner has never yet been able to find sustained success.

In recent seasons, Turner has settled in as a journeyman depth asset. He had brief stints with the Marlins and Tigers in 2018, revisiting the two organizations with which he began his career. He has also appeared briefly with the Nationals, Cubs, and White Sox.

All told, Turner owns only a 5.37 ERA in his 369 MLB frames, with 5.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 along with a 46.5% groundball rate. That said, Turner is still bringing 94+ mph heat on his sinker. With youth still on his side, a return stateside can’t be ruled out if he’s able to find something in the KBO.

Players Electing Free Agency

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Quite a few players will hit the open market this fall, and they’ll do so by way of varying mechanisms. The end of the regular season triggered a recent wave of free agents, consisting of a certain subset of players — namely, those who were outrighted from 40-man rosters during the season and accepted minor-league assignments at that time despite having the right to elect free agency. Players in that situation are entitled instead to hit the open market at season’s end, if they were not added back to the 40-man roster in the meantime.

As conveyed by Matt Eddy of Baseball America, who also covers quite a few other minor moves, these players have now elected free agency:

Athletics: RHP Raul Alcantara, LHP Danny Coulombe

Blue Jays: RHP Mike Hauschild, INF/OF Darnell Sweeney

Braves: LHP Rex Brothers, RHP Miguel Socolovich

Cardinals: LHP Tyler Lyons

Indians: RHP Evan Marshall, RHP Alexi Ogando

Mariners: RHP Christian Bergman, LHP Ross Detwiler, RHP Mike Morin, INF Zach Vincej

Marlins: OF JB Shuck

Mets: RHP Chris Beck, OF Bryce Brentz, RHP Scott Copeland, OF Matt den Dekker, INF Ty Kelly

Nationals: LHP Tommy Milone, OF Moises Sierra, RHP Carlos Torres

Orioles: RHP Jhan Marinez, INF Luis Sardinas

Padres: OF Matt Szczur

Phillies: INF Trevor Plouffe

Pirates: LHP Buddy Boshers, RHP Casey Sadler, RHP A.J. Schugel

Rangers: C Juan Centeno, LHP Anthony Gose, RHP Drew Hutchison, INF Tommy Joseph, RHP Chris Rowley

Rays: INF Brandon Snyder, RHP Ryan Weber

Reds: C Tim Federowicz, RHP Kevin Quackenbush

Tigers: INF Dixon Machado, RHP Jacob Turner

White Sox: RHP Tyler Danish

Tigers Designate Zach McAllister For Assignment

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The Tigers announced that they’ve designated right-hander Zach McAllister for assignment. To take his place, they plan on selecting fellow righty Jacob Turner’s contract from Triple-A Toledo prior to Sunday’s game against the Twins.

It appears the marriage between the Tigers and McAllister will end up as a short-lived union, as the team just signed the 30-year-old on Aug. 10. In order to make room for the addition of McAllister, Detroit designated Turner, making Saturday’s move a reversal of that transaction.

The hard-throwing McAllister appeared in three games and threw 3 1/3 innings as a Tiger, giving up a whopping eight earned runs on 10 hits despite racking up five strikeouts against no walks. McAllister also struggled to prevent runs across 41 2/3 frames with the AL Central rival Indians earlier this year, as he pitched to a 4.97 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9, prompting the Tribe to release him Aug. 8.

McAllister isn’t far removed from serving as a quality reliever, evidenced by his 2.99 ERA over 183 1/3 innings from 2015-17, but it appears this will go down as a season to forget for him. Turner, on the other hand, hasn’t experienced much success since debuting with the Tigers back in 2011, but they’ll give him a chance to make his second start of the season Sunday. The 27-year-old owns a 5.37 ERA with 5.76 K/9 against 3.51 BB/9 in 369 big league frames, and has allowed a comical 15 earned runs on 19 hits in just 6 2/3 innings between Detroit and Miami in 2018.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/13/18

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Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Tigers announced today that right-hander Jacob Turner cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Toledo. Having been outrighted in the past, the prospect-turned-journeyman will have the ability to decline that assignment in favor of free agency if he is so inclined. The 27-year-old Turner was designated for assignment over the weekend when Detroit signed Zach McAllister. Turner pitched just one inning in his return to the Tigers and allowed a whopping five runs in that outing. He soaked up 39 innings for the Nationals last season but hasn’t topped that mark since the 2014 season. In 369 career innings at the big league level, Turner has a 5.37 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.22 HR/9 and a 46.5 percent ground-ball rate.

Tigers Sign Zach McAllister, Designate Jacob Turner

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The Tigers announced today that they have signed a MLB pact with righty Zach McAllister. To create roster space, the club designated fellow right-hander Jacob Turner.

McAllister just wrapped up a lengthy tenure with the Indians, who released him after designating him for assignment. Now he’ll head to the division-rival Tigers to finish out the year before reaching free agency at season’s end.

The 30-year-old hurler has overseen declines in both his peripherals and his results this season. McAllister provided the Indians with 183 1/3 innings of 2.99 ERA ball from 2015-17, but his fortunes have turned. Through 41 2/3 frames in 2018, he has coughed up seven long balls and is allowing 4.97 earned runs per nine with 7.3 K/9 versus 2.2 BB/9.

Turner, of course, is a former first-rounder turned journeyman who found his way back to Detroit recently. He was shelled in a recent start, lasting only one inning. In eighty frames this year, he carries a 4.50 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9.

Tigers To Purchase Contract Of Jacob Turner

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The Tigers will purchase the contract of righty Jacob Turner, Evan Woodberry of MLive.com tweets. He’s expected to start tomorrow in place of the just-traded Mike Fiers.

Turner, 27, has seen action in parts of seven seasons. But his career hasn’t gone as hoped when he debuted in Detroit at just twenty years of age. The former first-rounder has spent time with four other organizations since that time and owns only a 5.26 ERA over 368 career innings.

Most recently, Turner was knocked around in four outings with the Marlins earlier this season. The Tigers nabbed him on a minors deal and sent him to Triple-A Toledo. Turner has been effective there thus far, carrying a 4.01 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 58 1/3 frames over 11 starts.

Tigers Sign Jacob Turner, Hunter Cervenka

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6:28pm: The Tigers have now formally announced the signings.

6:22pm: The Tigers have signed right-hander Jacob Turner to a minor league deal, as first noted on Roster Roundup (Twitter link). Evan Woodberry of MLive.com writes that he’s likely headed for Triple-A Toledo and adds that the Tigers have also picked up left-handed reliever Hunter Cervenka on a minor league pact.

Now 27 years of age, Turner was once the ninth overall pick in the draft by the Tigers (2009) but has yet to cement himself in the big leagues. He went from Detroit to Miami in the trade that sent Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Tigers, but he’s never made more than 20 starts or topped 118 innings in any big league season.

Since being cut loose by the Marlins in 2014, Turner spent time with the Cubs, White Sox and Nationals before returning to the Miami organization to open the 2018 season. He was released after tossing just 5 2/3 innings in the Majors and 21 2/3 frames in Triple-A, though. Now, after a second stint with Miami, he’s back for a second stint in the Tigers organization, where he’ll serve as rotation depth in the upper minors. Turner owns an unsightly 5.26 ERA with 5.8 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 368 big league innings, but he has a more palatable 4.27 ERA and slightly better K/BB numbers in a near-identical sample of 358 Triple-A innings.

As for Cervenka, the former Marlins and Braves lefty has a 4.69 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 48 MLB innings, but he’s also issued 36 walks and hit three batters in that time. That’s been the norm for the 28-year-old throughout the upper minors as well, where he’s averaged nearly 11 punchouts per nine innings pitched but also averaged more than six walks in that time. Cervenka had been with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League prior to his signing, and to his credit, he dominated the indy scene. In 17 2/3 innings, Cervenka allowed three runs on nine hits with a 21-to-2 K/BB ratio.

Marlins Release Jacob Turner

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The Marlins have released right-hander Jacob Turner from their Triple-A affiliate, as was first noted on the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page. He’d opened the year on the team’s active roster but previously been designated for assignment and outrighted.

Turner, 27, appeared in four games for the Marlins’ big league club this season and surrendered 10 runs in 5 2/3 innings while tallying more walks (five) than strikeouts (two). Since being outrighted to New Orleans in early April, the former No. 9 overall pick (2009, Tigers) and top prospect has gone through a rough stretch in Triple-A as well. In 21 2/3 innings, he’s logged a 5.82 ERA with a 17-to-8 K/BB ratio, four home runs allowed and a 48 percent ground-ball rate.

Of course, even including that ugly run, Turner has a career 4.24 ERA in 357 innings at the Triple-A level, and he’s made a total of 55 Major League starts (plus 56 relief appearances) between the Marlins, Tigers, Nationals, Cubs and White Sox. As such, he’ll likely have other opportunities to latch on with another organization as a depth option in the upper minors.

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