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.

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).

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.

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

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.

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• Right-hander Jacob Turner has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A New Orleans by the Marlins, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Turner, 26, was designated for assignment over the weekend after yielding 10 runs on 13 hits and five walks through his first 5 2/3 innings to open the season. The former top prospect has previously been outrighted in his career, so he had the opportunity to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, though it doesn’t seem as though he’s chosen to go that route. He’ll give a thin Marlins pitching staff some depth at the Triple-A level, where has a 4.17 ERA in 336 1/3 career innings to go along with averages of 6.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.

The 30-year-old Cloyd joined the Marlins this offseason on a minors pact. He made just a single relief appearance for the Mariners in 2017. Prior to that, he hadn’t appeared in the majors since the 2013 season, during which he pitched 60 1/3 innings across 13 appearances (11 stats). Cloyd’s season stats were ugly overall; he gave up more earned runs more often than he struck out hitters, ending the year with a 6.56 ERA. Since then, he’s bounced around with the Triple-A affiliates of the Indians, Yankees and the aforementioned Mariners.

Turner, 26, has never quite lived up to his pre-2009-draft billing, which prompted the Tigers to select him ninth overall. Fangraphs pegs him as performing below replacement level in each of the past three seasons, while Baseball Reference believes him to have been roughly replacement level last year but worth nearly two wins below replacement in the two seasons prior combined. Though he made Miami’s opening day roster out of spring training, the righty gave up a startling ten earned runs across just 5 2/3 innings spanning four relief appearances to start the year.

Nola, the 28-year-old brother of Philies right-hander Aaron Nola, has yet to reach the big league level after coming off the draft board as a fifth-round selection of the Marlins back in 2012. While he began his pro career playing shortstop, the elder Nola eventually gathered a fair bit of experience at second base and third base before making the even larger jump to catcher last season in the upper minors. To his credit, Nola halted 27 of 65 stolen base attempts against him (42 percent).

Versatility in the field aside, Nola simply hasn’t produced much at the plate as a pro. He’s a career .243/.330/.320 hitter in parts of six minor league seasons, including a .259/.320/.353 slash in 750 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

SATURDAY: The Marlins have placed right-handed starter Dan Straily on the 10-day disabled list, according to a report from Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. In a separate tweet, Spencer notes that catcher J.T. Realmuto and shortstop J.T. Riddle are also likely to begin the season on the DL.

Straily was recently diagnosed with a “slight elbow strain” after experiencing some elbow inflammation.While Straily has told reporters that he doesn’t feel any pain (h/t Joe Frisaro of MLB.com), he’ll reportedly refrain from throwing for the time being. His early-season absence is terrible news for an already-thin Marlins rotation that’s now projected to feature Jose Urena as its opening day starter. Roster Resource assumes that non-roster invite Jacob Turner and Rule 5 pick Elieser Hernandez will be forced into rotation roles at the season’s outset. The Marlins recently optioned offseason acquisition Sandy Alcantara to Triple-A, but it’s fair to think he could be next in line if any of the club’s starting five struggle out of the gates or suffer an injury.

Beyond rotation implications, Straily’s elbow troubles are of serious concern to a Marlins club that held onto him amidst an offseason fire sale of its top players. With Miami clearly beginning a full-scale rebuild, Straily was considered one of the club’s top remaining trade assets. Whether or not the club had any thoughts about trading him prior to this year’s deadline, a serious injury to his elbow would figure to take that option off the table.

Speaking of injured trade candidates, Realmuto hasn’t played since suffering a back contusion on March 11th. The Marlins catcher collided with Gleyber Torres on a pickoff play in the fourth inning of a Grapefruit League game. The injury hasn’t been described as serious in any outlets, so it’s certainly feasible that the club might simply be taking a cautious path with their most valuable asset. Still, a report that he’s likely to go on the DL means that any remaining chance him being traded prior to the season has reduced to near zero.

If Realmuto does end up going on the DL, non-roster invite Bryan Holaday could be called upon to fill in alongside usual backup Tomas Telis. Chad Wallach is already on the 40-man roster after being claimed from the Reds in November, so he presents another option for the Fish.

As for Riddle, he’s yet to play in a game this spring. Joe Frisaro of MLB.com recently reported that he was “a little sore” after ramping up throwing activity. Riddle underwent season-ending surgery last August after suffering a slap-tear in his left shoulder, but figured to be a part of the Marlins’ opening day roster. The odds of that are beginning to look grim. Reserve infield options for the club are few and far between, with non-roster invite Peter Mooney presenting the best option at present.

Now 26, Turner spent parts of three seasons with the Marlins earlier in his career. The former top prospect was acquired in the swap that sent Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Tigers.

Things never went quite as hoped for Turner, who turned in twenty starts of 3.74 ERA ball in 2013 but without the peripherals to match. He struggled badly in 2014 and ended up heading to the Cubs in a DFA-limbo swap that kicked off something of a journeyman existence of late.

Most recently, Turner stepped into a swingman role for the Nationals. In 39 MLB frames in the 2017 season, he worked to a 5.08 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. Though he averaged a career-high 95.6 mph on his four-seamer while spending most of his time in the bullpen, Turner generated only a 6.0% swinging-strike rate.

It’s conceivable that Turner will compete for a rotation or bullpen spot in Miami. The Marlins are obviously on the hunt for affordable pitching as they oversee a payroll-paring effort this winter.