Stuart Turner - 2014

[Whammy]

Full Name: Randy Stuart Turner

Born: 12/27/1991 - 22 years old for 2014 season

Birthplace: Eunice, LA

College: Mississippi

Drafted: Rd 3, Minnesota Twins, 2013

Height: 6' 2"

Weight: 230

Bats/Throws: R

2013:

Turner finished out his career at Mississippi by winning the Johnny Bench award, which is given to the best Catcher in College Baseball.

 

After being drafted and signed by the Twins in June of 2013, Turner was assigned to Elizabethton, the Twins rookie league affiliate.

 

Turner is widely regarded as a very strong defensive catcher, who's offensive ceiling is still a bit of a question mark.

 

Turner started his first game of his minor league career on June 21st, Catching for Josh Burris.

 

Turner did play one game at New Britain (AA) at the end of the year, but almost all of his stats were accumulated at Elizabethton.

 

[TABLE=class: rgMasterTable, width: 978]

[TR=bgcolor: #E5E5E5]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray]Season[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray]Team[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]G[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]AB[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]PA[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]H[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]1B[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]2B[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]3B[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]HR[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]R[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]RBI[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]BB[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]IBB[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]SO[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]HBP[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]SF[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]SH[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]GDP[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]SB[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]CS[/TH]

[TH=class: rgHeader rgHeaderOver, bgcolor: gray, align: right]AVG[/TH]

[/TR]

[TR=class: rgRow grid_minors_show]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular]2013[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular]Twins ®[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]34[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]121[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]142[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]32[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]24[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]5[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]0[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]15[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]19[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]12[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]0[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]22[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]0[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right].264[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

2014:

Turner's defensive prowess earned him an invite to Big League Camp, for Spring training in 2014.

 

His college experience and his defensive acumen has enabled Turner to skip low-A, and start 2014 at High-A, Fort Myers, where he is the primary starting catcher.

 

 

 

[Whammy]

Turner's first week and a half at Ft Myers has been fairly non-descript

 

He started off by getting hits in each of his first 5 games, but is 1-12 in the 3 games since.

 

It all adds up to:

267 AVG

353 OBP

300 SLG

653 OPS

[TRex]

After Turner got off to a slooooow start, I think everyone assumed he would fulfill the 'terrible' offensive role that was predicted for him (by all but Seth). However, since May 1 he has really turned it around. Not bad for debuting at high-A! He is not old for the league, so how well would he need to hit to make it into the top-15 or so?

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=turner000stu

[nicksaviking]

so how well would he need to hit to make it into the top-15 or so?

 

 

Probably not that well considering how much people love to rate catchers and shortstops. Still he has a lot of work to do. However, to his credit, I'd guess a .313 OBP and .691 OPS is not generally predictive from a pretty darn good 18% K rate. Those numbers will improve if he continues to make contact.