Big Lefties Holmberg, Turley Promoted to High-A
By Aaron Somers
Two underrated lefties were promoted from Low-A to High-A earlier this week–the Yankees’ Nik Turley and the Diamondbacks’ David Holmberg. Let’s take a quick look at these two prospects on the rise.
Holmberg is more well-known than Turley, for a couple of reasons. First, he was a second-round draft selection in 2009. Second, he was an important part of the deal that brought Edwin Jackson to Chicago last summer.
Even with that, Holmberg’s largely flown under the radar, mainly because he’s not a hard thrower, and he’s still in the low minors. That’s not to say he lacks stuff, as he can get his fastball up to around 90 mph, he throws on a good downhill plate from his 6’5″ frame, and also has a plus curveball.
Holmberg’s biggest asset, however, is how he relentlessly attacks the strike zone. In 83 Low-A innings, he issued just 13 walks while striking out 81 batters and allowing just three home runs, so he displayed a well-rounded statistical profile. Best of all, he’s still a teenager (although he turns 20 in a couple of weeks).
In a best-case scenario, Holmberg could become Barry Zito with better command and groundball ability. Obviously, not every tall lefty with a good curveball gets to that level, but he’s clearly a very advanced pitcher for his age, and he boasts a number of excellent attributes.
So does Turley, whose breakout season has been big for a New York system that’s seen a few of its top prospects (Andrew Brackman, Jesus Montero, Manny Banuelos, etc.) take steps backward this year. Turley is a former 50th-round draft pick, which explains why you’ve never heard of him, but he brings some real skills to the table. For one, he’s 6’7″, so he brings excellent size to the mound. Also, like Holmberg, he brings a good curveball. Turley also has more velocity than Holmberg, throwing in the low 90’s.
Turley is almost two years older than Holmberg, but being promoted to High-A a few months before your 22nd birthday doesn’t exactly qualify as “behind schedule,” especially for such a late draftee. And Turley certainly earned the promotion, posting a 2.51 ERA and 82/20 K/BB in 82 1/3 innings in Low-A.
Moving forward, while the two pitchers are at the same level, they’re also in drastically different environments, with Turley enjoying the humid air and large parks of the Florida State League and Holmberg in the ever-treacherous California League. The extremity of those environments could distort the pitchers’ numbers until they hit Double-A, but file these names away under players to watch, because they both could develop into solid mid-rotation arms.