Prospect Watch: After Complications On and Off the Field, Nik Turley is Looking to Show His Stuff
Nik Turley's road to the Pittsburgh Pirates could only be described as a roller coaster of highs and lows. He went from being drafted out of high school to MLB pitcher, to not appearing in a game over the last two years. As he enters the 2020 season, he is looking to put all of his struggles both on and off the field behind him and show the Pirates what he can do. He has been a member of the Pirates organization since 2017 but has yet to throw a pitch at any level of the Minor Leagues or the Major Leagues in his two seasons in the organization.
The Pirates claimed Turley off waivers after he appeared in 10 games the season before with the Minnesota Twins. He would pitch in the Dominican Winter League that season with the Estrellas de Oriente and pitched well in four games going 1-0 with a 1.69 in 16 innings of work. However, that is the last time he took a mound in a professional game as the MLB suspended him for 80 games that January. Turley tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug Ipamorelin and it would all but end his 2018 campaign. When his suspension was over, Turley ended up on the 60-day Disabled List officially ending his season.
It was injuries again that kept him off the field in 2019, and he wasn't able to come off the Injured List until the end of September and did not appear in any games. The Pirates designated Turley for assignment after the season, but he cleared waivers and is once again back in the Pirates system. He is looking to channel the success that got him drafted out of high school and helped him rise through the New York Yankees minor league system. The Pirates will be the sixth organization he has played for in his career and he is hoping to find a home with the Pirates.
Turley attended Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, California, and was a standout during his senior year. He committed to play baseball at Brigham Young University on a baseball scholarship, but things changed when his name was called in the 2008 MLB Draft. The New York Yankees used the third to last pick in the draft to take the left-hander, and Turley ended up signing and reporting to the Gulf Coast League Yankees. He appeared in four games that season for the GCL Yankees and impressed with a 1.13 ERA in eight innings of work. However, his most impressive feat, however, was his 13 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter.
He would continue his journey in rookie ball for the next year and a half and continued showing strong numbers. In 2008, he appeared in 11 games, 10 starts, and kept his ERA under three, posting a 2.82 ERA, while going 3-2 in 54.1 innings of work. He limited his opponents to a .228 batting average and allowed fewer hits than innings pitched with 45 hits in 54.1 innings of work. The next season, he would pitch in just three games for the GCL Yankees before getting the call to the Class A Short Season Staten Island Yankees. This is when he would hit his first bump in the road, as his ERA jumped to 4.38 in 12 starts for Staten Island.
He would jump two levels in 2011, starting the year with full-season Charleston River Dogs, and making it to Advanced-A Tampa Yankees by season's end. After showing promise in Charleston, pitching to a 2.51 ERA, Turley got the call to Advanced-A Tampa Yankees. That is when he got hit by the injury bug and went on the disabled list in June of that season. He appeared in just five games for Tampa that season, but returned in 2012 and made his way back to the starting rotation. He once again found success pitching to a 2.89 ERA in 23 games, 21 starts for Tampa. He rediscovered his strikeout pitch and posted a career-high 116 strikeouts in 112 innings of work.
He would start the 2013 season with the Double-A Trenton Thunder appearing in 27 games, 26 starts, and pitching to a 3.88 ERA. Turley has always had a knack for limiting the number of hits he gives up and allowed just a .235 average against. He made the move to Triple-A by the end of the season and had a good start allowing just one earned run in six innings of work while striking out four and walking three. Turley would return to Triple-A in 2014 but an ERA in the upper fours would spell the end of his Yankees career as he was released after the season.
Turley would sign three Minor League contracts in the next three years, with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Red Sox. However, he wouldn't make it past Triple-A with any club, and it looked as though his chances of making the MLB were fading away. It wasn't until he signed with the Minnesota Twins on October 21st, 2016 that his path to the MLB would get a little bit brighter. He would start the year with the Double-A Chatanooga Lookouts where he appeared in five games, three starts, and pitched to an 0.37 ERA. He was then promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis and then finally got the call to the MLB.
He made his MLB debut on June 11th, 2020 in a start against the San Francisco Giants and things didn't go his way. He lasted just four innings and gave up four earned runs on eight hits. His first three starts in the MLB were rough as he gave up four or more earned runs each time and was sent back down to Triple A. He would appear exclusively out of the bullpen in his final seven appearances and found some success. Of those seven appearances, four were shutout appearances and he gave up just one run one time. He was released by the Twins following the season and then began his problems over the last two seasons.
Turley features a three-pitch arsenal headlined by his fastball, which he used 61.9% of the time in 2017. It averages 93.7 miles per hour and he is able to throw it all over the zone. He picked up eight of his 13 strikeouts on the pitch, but it was the hardest hit of any of his pitches. He gave up four home runs off the fastball and opponents hit a blistering .421 off the pitch. Up next, was his Curveball working it at 32.4% of the time, and it turned out to be his most effective pitch. He liked to dip the curve down and in to left-handed batters and opponents were hitting just .200 against the pitch. He has started to work in a change-up, but it is too early to tell as he only threw 18 at the MLB level.
One of the things that have plagued Turley throughout his career is getting hit hard on a consistent basis. In 2017, his hard-hit percentage sat at 53.0% and he allowed a line drive rate of 31.8%. This resulted in him allowing five home runs, which drove up his ERA into the Double digits. One positive, however, is that he kept the ball on the ground 43.7% of the time. Ground ball pitchers have been the Pirates mantra over the last decade, and Turley fits perfectly into that mold. If he can keep the ball on the ground, and limit the number of line drives, it will help Turley drop his ERA.
As Turley enters his age 30 season, his chances of making the MLB on a consistent basis is starting to dwindle. He hasn't pitched in a professional game since the 2017 season, and he will have a lot to prove if he wants to make it back in good graces with the Pirates. He took strides in the right direction at the start of Spring Training allowing just one unearned run in 3.1 innings of work. He seemed to have found his strikeout pitch, with seven, and he continued his strong control with just one walk. Turley was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis where he will continue to work back to where he was in 2017.
Prediction: 5-9, 3.98 ERA (23 starts Triple-A)
Nik Turley has battled throughout his career and the 2020 season is going to be no different. It is going to take a while for Turley to get back adjusted to professional baseball and I think he will hit some bumps in the road initially. However, if he can continue to limit hits and rediscover his strikeout pitch, he should be able to get back to some semblance of the success he had in the minors before. Whether that can ever translate to the MLB level is yet to be determined, but I don't think Turley will be in a Pirates uniform at any point in 2020.
It is still uncertain as to when the 2020 MLB season is set to begin, but we at Buccos Cove are determined to continue to bring you strong content. Until the 2020 season begins, we will continue looking at the players who make up the 2020 Pirates organization and how they will impact the organization this season.
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