Jacob Turner

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Jacob Edward Turner

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Biographical Information[edit]

Jacob Turner was a top-10 draft pick in 2009 and reached the majors with the Detroit Tigers in 2011. His brother Ben Turner has played in the minors.

Turner was 1-0 with a 3.48 ERA for the USA when they won Silver at the 2008 World Junior Championship; he fanned 19 in 10 1/3 innings. As a high school senior, he had a 7-2, 0.60 record with 113 strikeouts and 13 walks in 58 1/3 IP. He was picked by the Tigers ninth overall in the 2009 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Marty Miller at the August 17 deadline to a major league contract which included a $4.7 million bonus.

He had a strong pro debut on April 10, 2010 for the West Michigan Whitecaps, holding to 2 hits and no runs in five innings, fanning seven in a no-decision against the Lake County Captains. He was a combined 6-5, 3.28 in 24 games between West Michigan and the Lakeland Flying Tigers, with 102 strikeouts in 115 133 innings.

Turner pitched for the United States team in the 2011 Futures Game. Two weeks later, he was called up by the Tigers and amde his major league debut on July 30, 2011, starting against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He gave up only 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings while striking out 6, but was charged with a loss. He only made 3 starts at the major league level, going 0-1, 8.53, while he was a combined 4-5, 3.44 in 20 starts between the AA Erie SeaWolves and AAA Toledo Mud Hens. He did strike out 110 batters in 131 innings, while walking only 35. After the season, he was ranked #22 on Baseball America's top 100 prospect list.

Turner was in major league spring training with the Tigers in 2012, but failed to make the team. He had been given a shot to earn a spot in the Tigers' starting rotation, but struggled with his command and was bothered by some shoulder tendinitis, prompting his return to Toledo to begin the year, and also making a stop with the Class A Lakeland Flying Tigers on a rehabilitation assignment. He was called up to make a start on June 21st, giving up a run in 5 innings in a no-decision against the St. Louis Cardinals. He then went back to Toledo and was 4-2, 3.16 in 10 starts when called bact to the Motor City. He struggled badly in his first start back on July 17th, giving up 7 runs and 3 homers to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in only 2 innings to be saddled with a 13-0 loss. He earned his first major league win in his next start on July 22nd, when he beat the Chicago White Sox, 6 - 4. The next day, he was traded to the Miami Marlins alongside minor leaguers Rob Brantly and Brian Flynn in return for P Anibal Sanchez and IF Omar Infante. The Tigers were trying to strengthen two areas of weakness on their otherwise first-place team, while the Marlins were looking towards the future as their off-season spending spree on free agents had failed to make the team competitive. Jacob made seven starts for the Marlins, putting up a solid 3.38 ERA in spite of a record of only 1-4.

The Marlins decided to send Turner back to AAA to start the 2013 season, even though they were short of starting pitchers because of injuries. With the New Orleans Zephyrs, he went 3-4, 4.47 in 10 starts before being recalled on May 31st to replace an injured Alex Sanabia. In his first start, he stopped a nine-game losing streak by the Fish by defeating the New York Mets, 5-1, allowing no runs on 5 hits in 7 innings. He went 3-8, 3.74, finishing the season on a streak of 12 consecutive winless starts. That streak continued into the 2014 season, reaching 16 when he lost, 7-1, to the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 13th, in a game in which his opponent, Josh Beckett, snapped a 14-start losing streak of his own. With the loss, he fell to 0-10 lifetime on the road, in spite of an ERA under 4.00 in his 17 career starts away from home. While he snapped the winless streak, he continued to struggle, and on August 5th, he was designated for assignment by the Marlins. He was 4-7 with 5.97 ERA in 20 games. Three days later, the Chicago Cubs acquired him for two minor leaguers, Jose Arias and Tyler Bremer, thinking that a change of scenery could turn him around. He made 6 starts in 8 appearances for the Cubs, going 2-4, 6.49, to end the season at 6-11, 6.13.

Turner only made 2 starts with the Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League in 2015, and was shut down by an injury the rest of the year. He moved across town to the Chicago White Sox organization in 2016 but continued to struggle, going 1-2, 6.57 in 18 games, including 2 starts. He was only slightly better in AAA with the Charlotte Knights, where his record was 4-7, 4.71 in 18 starts. He was on the move again after that season, signing as a free agent with the Washington Nationals. He started 2017 in AAA with the Syracuse Chiefs and had put up an ERA of 2.61 in 3 starts when he was called up to the nation's capital to make a start against the Colorado Rockies on April 24th. He pitched well, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings while striking out 6 and walking none, ending up with a no-decision. On May 3rd, he had one of the best outings of his career when he relieved Gio Gonzalez to start the 6th with the score tied at 1-1 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He ended up pitching four scoreless innings, giving up only a pair of hits, and received credit for the Nats' 2-1 win. In all, he made 18 appearances for Washington, including 2 starts, going 2-3, 5.08. In 2018, he started the season with the Miami Marlins but his second stint with the team was short-lived as he was designated for assignment after one nightmarish relief outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 7th during which he gave up 8 runs in 1 inning in a 20-1 loss. He cleared wavers and was sent down to the AAA New Orleans Baby Cakes.

Related Sites[edit]

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